Virtuozzo Storage Plug-In Receives Docker Certification, Now Available in the Docker Store

SEATTLE, June 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- #Virtuozzo, a #hyperconverged infrastructure software provider, today announced that its persistent storage plug-in has been accepted into the #Docker Certification Program, a framework for partners to integrate and certify their technology to the Docker Enterprise Edition commercial platform, and is now available online in the Docker Store. Virtuozzo first released its storage plug-in for Docker in 2016, and now provides persistent storage support for all Docker environments. With the Virtuozzo storage plug-in, Docker users can build a production-ready hyperconverged solution that combines persistent data storage and management with Docker container orchestration. The plug-in makes it fast and easy for users to integrate Virtuozzo's software-defined storage solution and Docker compute resources. The need for dedicated storage hardware is eliminated, providing users with a flexible, high performing storage solution that can easily grow with deployment size, capacity and demands, while automatically ensuring that storage is never a bottleneck in the container orchestration platform. The ephemeral nature of containers and the data within them presents a challenge for companies running applications, such as databases and logs. These applications must have a way to store persistent data in the most efficient and flexible way. In addition to Docker-certified compatibility and ease-of-use enabled by the new plug-in, Virtuozzo Storage enables Docker users to overcome these challenges with a proven, secure and high performance software-defined storage solution. Key benefits include: Combined storage and compute resources to leverage the same hardware – Virtuozzo Storage has very modest requirements for computing power and does not require or depend on dedicated or highly available hardware, utilizing regular HDD and SSD drives. This allows users to combine compute and storage to build a high performance hyperconverged infrastructure environment that can run Dockerized applications and store their persistent data in the most efficient way. Reliability and scalability – Virtuozzo Storage automatically builds and maintains the required levels of data redundancy with automatic load balancing, detecting failures and performing auto-recovery when required. The storage cluster adjusts to provide continuous data access for clients. There is no single point of failure in any component – data stored will continue to be available when a server that hosts pieces of data goes offline or fails. Both capacity and storage bandwidth scale out linearly with the growth of storage clusters to ensure the solution grows with demand. Balance capacity and performance with support for erasure coding and replicas – Virtuozzo Storage lowers TCO with RAID 6 erasure coding, which enables more efficient use of disk space minimizing overhead due to the redundancy required for data protection. Virtuozzo Storage also provides customers with flexibility to support more demanding workloads, including advanced cloud services and databases, delivering tens of thousands IOPs to those applications. Volume and S3 Object Storage in a Single Solution – Virtuozzo Storage supports both Volume and S3 storage. There is no need for users to evaluate, mix and integrate different solutions to support their Docker Enterprise Edition environments with Virtuozzo Storage, which enables easy deployment and management from the same solution. Simplified UI manages makes deployment and management simple - Easy to use web-based management interface enables centralized management and visibility across all types of storage in production. "Our storage plug-in for Docker makes it easier than ever to enable a persistent storage solution that has been optimized for container workloads," said George Karidis, CEO at Virtuozzo. "Together with Docker, we're helping customers drive greater adoption of containerized applications, while taking performance and efficiency to new levels with integrated containers and storage." To learn more about the Virtuozzo Storage plug-in, visit the Docker Store here. More information on Virtuozzo storage is available here. About Virtuozzo Virtuozzo is a hyperconverged infrastructure software provider with integrated container, hypervisor and storage solutions that power production-ready workloads with the lowest TCO for service providers and businesses. Virtuozzo was the first company to monetize container workloads and has 5 million virtual environments in production today. Virtuozzo is also an active contributor to many influential open source projects, including Linux kernel, OpenVZ, CRIU™, KVM, Docker, OpenStack, CNCF and OCI.

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/virtuozzo-storage-plug-in-receives-docker-certification-now-available-in-the-docker-store-300480469.html

DataCore Introduces Hybrid Cloud Replication on Azure Marketplace for its Software-Defined Storage Solutions

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., June 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- #DataCore today announced that its DataCore Cloud Replication software solutions are now available in the #Microsoft #Azure Marketplace to support customers' disaster recovery efforts. Customers with on-premises deployments of #SANsymphony™ software-defined storage and #Hyperconverged Virtual SAN can use the Microsoft Azure cloud as an added replication location to safeguard highly available systems.  For example, on-premises stretch clusters split between two sites in a metropolitan area can also replicate a third copy of the data to Azure to protect against data loss in the event of a major regional disaster. Critical data is continuously replicated asynchronously within the hybrid cloud configuration. In addition, customers with a diverse mix of storage brands or models can run DataCore software-defined storage on-premises to consolidate and unify data replication to the Azure cloud for all storage assets versus dealing with the complexity and cost of implementing piecemeal vendor by vendor approaches. The ongoing and rapid growth of data, the diversity of storage devices, and the wide variety of compliance regulations to which many organizations must adhere requires that all essential data and applications be available at a remote site accessible from anywhere to ensure that business operations can be restored in the event of an unforeseen event or disaster scenario. Enterprises are increasingly turning to the cloud to avoid the difficulties of setting up and maintaining a dedicated remote location for just this purpose. The availability of DataCore Cloud Replication in the Azure Marketplace makes it much simpler for enterprises to take advantage of the scalability, agility and cost-efficiencies of the Azure cloud to quickly roll out a secure remote replication site, while enjoying unified storage management between their on-premises infrastructure and the Azure cloud. This offering delivers the flexibility to choose where critical data is restored should a catastrophe occur. In some cases, it will be best to restore at the original on-premises location. In other cases, IT may prefer to run some of their workloads directly in the Azure cloud. "DataCore Cloud Replication in the Microsoft Azure Marketplace provides our customers with the potential to realize substantial CapEx and time savings, while offering the benefits of greater protection and flexibility for remote replication," said Sushant Rao, senior director, product marketing at DataCore Software. "This will ultimately help enterprises more effectively achieve mission-critical business objectives such as efficient disaster recovery through the use of flexible and cost-effective cloud services." "Hybrid cloud deployments are one of the fastest growing technology segments in the industry today," said Dietmar Hensch, managing director, Crew Services at Kramer & Crew (GmbH & Co. KG). "DataCore's Cloud Replication offering in the Microsoft Azure Marketplace provides us with a greater ability to provide more advanced hybrid systems to our customers, along with a faster and more convenient way to address the need for critical disaster recovery services." Qualifying licenses are available from DataCore channel partners that are ready to provide the professional services necessary to set up the remote replication sites, and can tailor the appropriate services for each customer's recovery requirements.

http://news.sys-con.com/node/4113417

CRN Exclusive: Michael Dell On Partner Sales Growth, Fighting Public Cloud Lock In And The IoT 'Explosion

It's been nearly 10 months since #DellTechnologies Chairman and CEO #MichaelDell completed the $58 billion landmark acquisition of #EMC, and so far the combination has surpassed his expectations for growth and has been more popular than expected with partners and customers, too. In an interview with CRN, Dell said he has "seen tremendous validation of the strategy we put in place," as customers and partners turn to #DellTechnologies and its family of companies – #DellEMC, #VMware, #Pivotal, #Virtustream, #RSA and others, when they consider which vendors they'll place their bets with in the future. Customers, Dell said, are aggressively digitizing their businesses, and partners have an opportunity to take advantage of that move as long as they stay ahead of the curve. "The companies that thrive are the ones that learn how to add value in the new relevant things," he said. Still, the market's move to the cloud isn't tidy, and Dell is committed to supplying a "multi-cloud world" where businesses keep almost all their data on premises and assign the rest to the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platforms, managed services providers, and the public cloud, which Dell said has proven expensive and "is trying to create a lock-in" in many cases.

http://m.crn.com/slide-shows/storage/300087876/crn-exclusive-michael-dell-on-partner-sales-growth-fighting-public-cloud-lock-in-and-the-iot-explosion.htm?itc=popular

SonicWall Surpasses Three Million Firewalls Sold and Achieves 50 Percent Growth in Partner Deal Registrations Reflecting More Than $250 Million in New Pipeline

#SonicWall, the private network security company owned by Francisco Partners and Elliott Management, announced today that it has surpassed the aggressive financial and operational metrics set across sales, partner engagement and support, including shipping its three millionth firewall. This momentum has positioned the company to receive key industry awards and recognition from partners that set it apart as a cybersecurity leader. “In fewer than eight months, SonicWall has already exceeded the ambitious financial and operational metrics established for the business. We believed in this investment from day one, and we are confident this is only the first chapter of SonicWall’s success story,” said Bill Conner, SonicWall President and CEO. “Cybersecurity professionals are increasingly addressing new cyber threats, like WannaCry, by deploying a record number of SonicWall products and services. We have the right management, the right channel partners, the right technology and the right services so businesses can run more effectively and fear less.” SonicWall Partner Program Sign Ups Surge SonicWall enjoys unparalleled relationships and support from the global partner community that serves as a trusted advisor to customers. In the face of constantly evolving threat vectors, such as the recent WannaCry ransomware attack, SonicWall continues to introduce innovations to the partner community to strengthen those relationships, such as the SecureFirst Partner Program for channel partners of all types, including resellers, integrators, managed security service providers and security consultants. Since the launch of the program in November 2016, SonicWall has experienced a surge in partner growth and sales: More than 15,000 channel partners across 90 countries have registered for SecureFirst. 4,000 of those partners are new to SonicWall. SonicWall University Administers More Than 19,000 Cybersecurity Exams In March 2017, SonicWall introduced SonicWall University, a real-time digital and role-based curricula, driven by intelligence gathered from SonicWall’s Capture Labs and threat researchers. This intelligence is derived and analyzed from more than one million network sensors worldwide, coupled with real-time data analytics (via deep learning algorithms). SonicWall offers the training and accreditation program that’s designed to focus and educate partners on current cybersecurity threats, along with new global marketing programs and incentives to help channel partners reach and protect enterprises around the globe. Since then, partners have flocked to SonicWall University for training and certifications: SonicWall University has provided more than 10,000 hours of online training and administered more than 19,000 successful exams. Participants are also completing specializations focused on key areas, such as ransomware, email threats and encrypted threats. “The active engagement of our partners in our SecureFirst Partner Program and SonicWall University have exceeded our greatest expectations, with 50 percent growth in partner deal registration that reflects $250 million in new pipeline,” said Steve Pataky, Vice President of Worldwide Sales and Channel. “Since SonicWall became an independent company 100 percent focused on cybersecurity and 100 percent focused on channels, we have moved at a blistering pace to deliver cutting-edge support and education to our partners.” SonicWall Surpasses Sales and Customer Support Benchmarks Since November 2016, SonicWall and the channel community have partnered to achieve significant growth: The company sold its three millionth firewall, a testament to its 25-year track record of cybersecurity leadership. Partner Deal Registration has grown 50 percent since the company became independent and launched the SecureFirst Partner Program in November, reflecting more than $250 million in new pipeline. While SonicWall does not disclose its sales numbers as a private company, according to independent market research firm NPD Group as reported in CRN, SonicWall leapfrogged key competitors and jumped to number two in the rankings of vendors in terms of network security appliances sold in the first quarter of 2017, reporting more than 55 percent year-over-year growth. In addition to this strong growth, SonicWall has increased its focus on improving customer service and support: SonicWall reduced the average queue wait time by 80 percent since January 1, 2017. The company shortened the longest queue wait time by 60 percent. SonicWall Wins Unparalleled Third-Party Validation Since becoming an independent company, SonicWall has earned 19 awards for its business and leadership. A few of SonicWall’s notable achievements include: SonicWall was named to the CRN List of 25 Coolest Network Security Vendors, CRN Partners Guide to Security Vendors with a Five Star Channel Program and ChannelPro Best Hardware Security Vendors, as well as awarded People’s Choice for Network Security Vendor of the Year from Network World Middle East. SonicWall Capture Advanced Threat Protection Service was honored with the CRN Product of the Year Award, InfoSecurity Products Guide Global Excellence, Networks Product Guide IT World Awards and the American Business Stevie Awards. Other SonicWall solutions were awarded the SC Magazine 2017 Trust Award, InfoSecurity Products Guide Global Excellence Awards and more. SonicWall’s Pataky was named to the CRN List of 50 Most Influential Channel Chiefs, and Michele Campbell and Dawn Ringstaff on Pataky’s team were named to CRN’s Women of the Channel list.

http://news.sys-con.com/node/4113295

Common tech underlies Veeam, Pure Storage team-up for full data snapshots

Both #Veeam and #PureStorage technologies were built on the latest virtualization techniques, and this has let them move faster than some of their competitors in adding value to customers, according to the duo. “Traditional backup software had to come into virtualization after the fact, so it’s retrofitted for virtualization, whereas Veeam started with virtualization — and if you look at Pure, it’s a similar history,” Rajavasireddy said. With the right technical foundation, the two companies are in a position to quickly respond to the demands of customers, the latest of which is full snapshot support on a Pure Storage-based solution. “We hear a lot of customers asking for native snapshot integration with Pure Storage, so that’s what we announced today. We’re in the lab working through development right now. We provided the APIs to Pure, and our target is to get full snapshot integration out in GA sometime shortly after our version 10 hits the market,” Vandeveld said.

https://siliconangle.com/blog/2017/06/26/common-tech-underlies-veeam-pure-storage-team-full-data-snapshots-pureaccelerate/

Datrium DVX Receives Citrix Ready Verification

SUNNYVALE, Calif., June 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- #Datrium, the leading provider of Open Converged Infrastructure for private clouds, today announced that it has been verified as #CitrixReady® and the solution is now available in the Citrix Ready Marketplace. The Citrix Ready program helps customers identify third-party solutions that are recommended to enhance virtualization, networking and cloud computing solutions from Citrix. As part of the program, Datrium has completed a rigorous process to ensure its Open Convergence platform, Datrium DVX Rackscale, is compatible with Citrix XenDesktop®. Datrium DVX is an important addition to the Citrix Ready program as it offers Citrix XenDesktop customers a flexible, simple and affordable solution for growing private cloud deployments. Citrix XenDesktop and Datrium DVX combine to provide a virtual desktop solution for simple administration, responsive desktop performance, server choice flexibility and cost-effective scaling of virtual desktop deployments. The Datrium approach also equips administrators with a familiar environment to effortlessly provision virtual desktops, accelerate applications, and protect and recover virtual machines, desktops, and disks. "We are pleased to have Datrium join us in the Citrix Ready program," said Siddharth Rabindran, Director, Citrix Ready program at Citrix. "Citrix Ready makes it easier for customers to select the most suitable virtualization infrastructure products for their specific needs. By taking part in our program, Datrium has enabled its customers to obtain the highest quality user experience available today, and the simplest means for making an informed product purchasing selection." Benefits of integrating Datrium DVX with Citrix XenDesktop include: Start small and scale simply, using new or existing hosts with commodity SSDs and Datrium DVX. No hardware vendor lock-ins. Handle boot or login storms effectively with all desktops resident in local server flash. Experience data reduction rates of up to 9:1 in VDI deployments using always-on global deduplication and compression. Protect critical data with snapshot, cloning, and elastic replication to ensure virtual desktop backups are available locally and off-site for blazing fast recovery. Safeguard enterprise data from network sniffers with AES-XTS-256 end-to-end software encryption without performance overhead. Datrium DVX separates on-host IO performance and data services from off-host durable data, so speed and persistent capacity can each be provisioned independently, easily scaling resources with the addition of new compute or data nodes. This separation allows each host to remain stateless so can operate independently from others, allowing for flexible server choice, better resource isolation and overall availability. "We are proud to have achieved Citrix Ready certification for running Citrix flagship products on Datrium DVX," said Andre Leibovici, Datrium Vice President for Solutions and Alliances. "Reducing datacenter complexities allow Citrix customers to provide best-in-class user experience with superior economics, simple management, scalability, and most importantly higher predictability for successful deployments."

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/datrium-dvx-receives-citrix-ready-verification-300480155.html

ForeScout Unveils New Security Solution for VMware Software-Defined Data Center Environments

#ForeScout Technologies, Inc., a leading Internet of Things ( #IoT ) security company, today announced its new ForeScout data center security solution for #VMware environments. Expanding on its existing technology collaboration with VMware, ForeScout's data center security solution will now provide enhanced security and compliance for organizations by discovering, classifying and assessing endpoints across traditional and software-defined data centers. #ForeScout will help #VMware #NSX® customers further improve security through consolidated visibility across virtual and physical infrastructures, reduced attack surface and enforced segmentation policies in heterogeneous environments. "As enterprises shift from traditional to software-defined data centers, IT organizations are struggling to detect rogue, non-compliant, unmanaged virtual machines and devices," said Michael DeCesare, president and CEO, ForeScout. "While virtualization and cloud solutions provide much needed flexibility, having comprehensive visibility in those environments is essential to preventing blind spots. ForeScout's interoperability with VMware NSX is part of our broader strategy to help provide customers with visibility and control across their network infrastructure from the campus to data center to cloud. You can only secure what you can see." As networks continue to evolve and organizations adopt IoT devices and virtualization, cyberattacks can take advantage of any visibility and control gaps. If rogue, non-compliant, unapproved, zombie and orphan virtual machines go undetected, they can increase an organization's attack surface and open the door for hackers to exploit weak links, access shared resources, or move laterally across a network to obtain sensitive information. As such, organizations need visibility across the network infrastructure to validate virtual machine and device properties as well as stronger security controls to prevent new attack vectors. Security analysts leveraging ForeScout's new data center security solution for VMware will be able to maximize existing security investments to improve the following: Visibility: Improve visibility into software-defined data centers as virtual machines are created, moved, off-lined or retired. Validate virtual machine properties using a policy-based approach to help true-up asset inventories and configuration management databases (CMDB) with more up-to-date information about connected virtual machines and their associated properties. Compliance: Assist customers in adhering to security best practices and virtual machine hardening standards. Automate compliance checks to measure against standardized guidelines and initiate remediation actions to mitigate risk from non-compliant or rogue virtual machines. Resource Optimization: Help maximize capacity of virtual machine infrastructures and optimize utilization by proactively identifying zombie and orphan virtual machines to reduce virtual machine sprawl and prevent unnecessary consumption of resources. Risk Mitigation and Response: Verify security profile and posture of virtual machines and apply appropriate VMware NSX security tags to enforce segmentation policies, isolate non-compliant endpoints and facilitate remediation actions. Earlier this year, ForeScout announced its security solution for Amazon Web Services (AWS) to enable visibility into cloud workloads. Now, working separately with both VMware and AWS, ForeScout provides consolidated visibility and consistent policy management across campus, private data center and public cloud infrastructures. For more information on ForeScout's data center solution for VMware, please visit here. Supporting Quotes: "We continue to work with our customers to help transform security as part of their digital transformation. Our approach with NSX is to deliver a security platform with our ecosystem where security is aligned to the application. With ForeScout and NSX we are delivering on our promise of application aligned security with agility for our joint environments." - Milin Desai, vice president of products, networking and security business unit at VMware "Today's enterprises are modernizing their IT infrastructures and moving to hybrid and multi-cloud environments. However, security considerations continue to be a challenge as endpoints proliferate beyond laptops and physical servers to virtual machines, making it more critical than ever for enterprises to look at security solutions that can seamlessly extend from campus to data center to the cloud. A collaboration like ForeScout and VMware, which extends agentless visibility and control across traditional and software-defined data centers with the NSX technology, will be valuable to organizations looking to secure their heterogeneous infrastructures." - Abhi Dugar, research director, Cloud and Enterprise Infrastructure and IoT Security, IDC

http://news.sys-con.com/node/4112853

Box salespeople are going to start pitching storage on Microsoft Azure

#Box and #Microsoft are going to start working together in a new area: Sales. And that might be a little awkward for other cloud providers that Box partners with, especially #Google.

Box announced on Tuesday that it would start offering storage on Microsoft cloud platform Azure as an option for Box customers. This is the first time the cloud document-management company will offer customers the option of specifying which public cloud provider will store their Box data, the company said.

Update: This is part of a co-selling agreement, which means Box will not be selling Azure services on their own, but as an option to purchase with a purchase of Box. Microsoft will also start pitching Box as part of sales of Azure, according to Box.

That means #Box salespeople will essentially be pitching #Azure to customers. Other cloud providers that partner with Box, including Azure competitors #GoogleCloud and #AmazonWebServices, don’t have the same agreement in place.

https://www.recode.net/2017/6/27/15877786/box-salespeople-pitching-selling-microsoft-azure-google-cloud-storage

Opinion Digital transformation driving wide-scale Hadoop adoption

The global #Hadoop market has witnessed skyrocketing adoption in the recent years and is expected to reach US $84.6 billion in revenue by 2021, equaling a stellar compound annual growth rate of 63.4 percent between 2016 and 2021, according to an Allied Market Research report.

In another recent study conducted by Syncsort, some 271 IT executives across a variety of industries were asked how they are deploying Hadoop and their expectations in terms of benefits. Their key findings include:

Hadoop is becoming a core part of the IT infrastructure, with legacy systems — such as mainframes and enterprise data warehouses (EDW) — cited as the prime sources for the data lake.Organization are leveraging Hadoop to yield tangible results in terms of agility, operational efficiency and cost reductions.Overall, confidence in Hadoop is increasing, while uncertainty in deploying Hadoop is no longer cited among the key challenges, dropping from 60 percent in 2016 to 42 percent in 2017.

The Role of Hadoop

While Hadoop is used across a multitude of use cases, nearly two-thirds of the respondents (62 percent) in the Syncsort study cite offloading data warehouse capacity and cost reductions as their prime motives. Leveraging Hadoop as a means to accomplish better and faster analytics is the rationale for 49.4 percent of all respondents. While 49.1 percent cite implementing a cost effective storage/data archive strategy as their goal, another 33.8 percent quote replacing their existing data warehouse investments as a major priority.

Compared to traditional data analysis tools such as relational database management system (RDBMS), Hadoop is seen to be more cost effective and efficient. Research suggests that the total cost of ownership (TCO) is estimated to be at around US$1,000 per terabyte — one-fifth to one-twentieth the cost of other data management technologies, according to Cloudera.

Use Cases gain Sophistication

Beyond offloading data warehouse capacity and yielding cost savings, advanced users are increasingly interested in utilizing Hadoop in a more strategic fashion, aiming to convert raw data into insights.

Six out of ten respondents (62 percent) are interested in using Hadoop for advanced/predictive analytics. While 57 percent of respondents consider utilizing Hadoop for data discovery and visualization, another 53 percent want to leverage it for ETL. 46.7 percent deploy Hadoop to gain operational insights, and 43 percent use it for real-time analytics.

Deployment Options

Though Hadoop was predominantly operated on-premise, cloud-based deployments are gaining traction, and organizations are increasingly comfortable with utilizing both. While a slight majority (51 percent) sticks solely to an on-premise deployment, nearly a third (30.6 percent) operates in a hybrid scenario. In roughly one out of five deployments (18.3 percent), organizations already take advantage of a pure cloud play.

As Hadoop gains maturity and organizations continue to explore how they can benefit from it, MapReduce remains widespread but movement across frameworks and the adoption of multiple frameworks increases. With 62 percent, MapReduce is still the most preferred framework. However, 47 percent of those currently using it plan to depart from MapReduce, while Spark adoption is on the rise.

Some 51 percent of respondents take advantage of at least one other framework besides MapReduce. A mere 25 percent of respondents rely entirely on Spark today, although that number is expected to increase toward 39 percent in the future. The vast majority will be leveraging Yet Another Resource Negotiator (YARN), which builds the foundation to run several data processing engines such as interactive SQL, real-time streaming, data science and batch processing to handle data stored in one common platform.

Implementation Challenges

Despite the huge adoption of Hadoop in the marketplace, implementing it on enterprise-grade can be challenging. The most frequently encountered challenges include:

Talent shortage: Experienced talent is scarce and expensive. For the third consecutive year, acquiring new skills and tools as well as recruiting and retaining qualified talent has been among the top challenges, cited by 58 percent of respondents.Rate of change: Both the compute frameworks and tools are evolving quickly, making it difficult to keep up for 53 percent of respondents.Integration and interoperability: For 48 percent of respondents, ensuring seamless integration with other data sources and applications is a major challenge.

Outlook

As the Hadoop market gains maturity, use cases and deployment models are further evolving. While early adopters aimed primarily for cost savings, users will increasingly utilize Hadoop in a more sophisticated fashion in an effort to gain strategic insights and contribute to top-line growth. As organizations progress on their learning curve, projects will multiply, and so too will the sources and volume of data required to support them — from mainframes, to NoSQL databases, sensors, and beyond.

Going forward, the cloudifcation trend will further accelerate and organizations will increasingly take advantage of cloud or hybrid scenarios — particularly to enable IoT-based use cases and real-time analytics comprising a multitude of sources. Flexible tools that abstract the complexity, streamline processes and adapt to changing requirements across the various deployments will grow in popularity.

In the digital era, organizations will increasingly depend on the success of their big data projects in order to produce KPIs, along with other key metrics that will enable them to gain competitive advantages by feeding the decision-making and running their business smarter. In turn, data governance grows in importance in order to navigate across the data lake and at the same time meet more stringent compliance regulations

https://www.information-management.com/opinion/digital-transformation-driving-wide-scale-hadoop-adoption

Virtustream COO: Hybrid Cloud Has Already Won

#Virtustream COO Simon Walsh explains why he believes hybrid has already won the cloud battle Having passed through the first wave of cloud computing, businesses are now looking at how to optimise their cloud operations and get the best ‘bang for their buck’ related to their specific needs. This is happening across all industries and has led to organisations frequently splitting workloads across different cloud platforms and vendors, taking either a multi-cloud or hybrid-cloud approach in what has become an extremely complicated world to navigate. According to Simon Walsh, COO of Dell-owned Virtustream, the route taken is usually triggered by a business problem – or what he calls “a compelling event” – and more often than not, the answer is hybrid.

A hybrid world

“Cloud is a way of doing stuff, it’s something you do not something you buy,” he explained. “Every single company will have a compelling event which forces a change of something.”

He cited Jaguar Land Rover as an example, a Dell EMC customer that is currently focusing on updating its legacy data centre infrastructure in order to keep pace with a rapidly changing industry environment. This poses some interesting questions for CIOs. 

“Do you do that yourself because there’s a compelling event? Do I go and spend a load of money yourself on a modernised data centre, or do I put some of that in the cloud and have it run for me because I don’t need to run everything myself?”

It’s these types of questions that lend weight to the hybrid cloud argument. Because modern businesses are so complex, taking a one size fits all approach simply isn’t possible.

By putting workloads in the best place for them rather than trying to group them all together, businesses can keep their most important data under their control and hand over the management of less important data to a third party.

“We’ve talked about hybrid cloud for the last five years and its been a slide myth until recently. I think hybrid’s doing to win. Hybrid has won actually,” Walsh explained. 

“It’s because every customer is going to go multi-cloud. That might be their own cloud, it might be AWS, it might be Google, it might be Virtustream, it might be Microsoft, it might be a regional service provider. They’re going to do it because you cannot get everything from everyone.

“You put the workloads in the right locations, so hybrid has won because you will not have everything on-premise and you will not have everything off-premise.”

Although not a steadfast rule, it’s one that more and more businesses are following and a trend that Walsh believes will continue for the foreseeable future.

http://www.silicon.co.uk/cloud/virtustream-hybrid-cloud-215785

Lenovo Moves The Datacenter Ball Forward At NYC Transform Event

Skaugen introduced the big story of the day—the launch of the largest end-to-end datacenter portfolio in Lenovo’s history. Skaugen described the launch as taking “the best of the x86 heritage,” which #Lenovo acquired from #IBM back in 2014, and combining it with Lenovo’s trademark cost and operational-efficiency. Skaugen also announced the addition of two new x86 brands—Lenovo #ThinkAgile and #ThinkSystem (more on those shortly)—and celebrated the fact that Lenovo would be shipping its 20 millionth x86 server next month. He lauded Lenovo’s position as the fastest growing supercomputing company on earth, and threw down the gauntlet with the company’s goal to become #1 in supercomputing in the next couple of years.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/patrickmoorhead/2017/06/26/lenovo-moves-the-datacenter-ball-forward-at-nyc-transform-event/?c=0&s=InTheCloud

Rigetti Launches Full-Stack Quantum Computing Service and Quantum IC Fab

Much of the ongoing #quantumcomputing battle among tech giants such as #Google and $IBM has focused on developing the hardware necessary to solve impossible classical computing problems. A Berkeley-based startup looks to beat those larger rivals with a one-two combo: a fab lab designed for speedy creation of better quantum circuits and a quantum computing cloud service that provides early hands-on experience with writing and testing software. #Rigetti Computing recently unveiled its Fab-1 facility, which will enable its engineers to rapidly build new generations of quantum computing hardware based on quantum bits, or qubits. The facility can spit out entirely new designs for 3D-integrated quantum circuits within about two weeks—much faster than the months usually required for academic research teams to design and build new quantum computing chips. It’s not so much a quantum computing chip factory as it is a rapid prototyping facility for experimental designs. “We’re fairly confident it’s the only dedicated quantum computing fab in the world,” says Andrew Bestwick, director of engineering at Rigetti Computing. “By the standards of industry, it’s still quite small and the volume is low, but it’s designed for extremely high-quality manufacturing of these quantum circuits that emphasizes speed and flexibility.”

http://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/computing/software/rigetti-launches-fullstack-quantum-computing-service-and-quantum-ic-fab

Dell drops optical drive price-fixing lawsuit against Hitachi

#Dell has agreed to drop its suits against #Hitachi and Hitachi #LG Data Storage after previously alleging it had been part of a conspiracy to fix prices for optical disk drives. There has been no mention of any settlement. The cases were dismissed "without prejudice" with all parties having to pay their own lawyers. The cases* – there are several, against several vendors – started in May 2013 – and the original complaint reads: "Dell brings this action on behalf of itself and its affiliates to recover for injury to its business and property and other harms arising from billions of dollars of purchases, at artificially inflated prices, over several years, of optical disk drives ('ODDs')." The drives were CDs, DVDs and Blu-ray disk drives. #Dell sued #NEC, #SamsungElectronics, #Sony, #Toshiba and others as well. Eventually these cases were shrunk; defendants NEC and Sony went away, and others consolidated in an MDL (Multi-District Litigation.) Other optical disk buyers piled in to sue the optical disk makers too. #Acer sued Toshiba, Samsung and others in October 2013, as did #HP. Earlier, in 2011, an investigation by the US Department of Justice led to three Hitachi-LG Data Storage execs pleading guilty to anti-trust violations in the optical disk industry, and getting jail sentences and a fine. HLDS admitted to rigging the market and so its larger customers went to court to recover over-payments and get damages. HP has dropped its claims against Sony and Panasonic. Now Dell has walked away from its case against Hitachi and HLDS, with neither side stating why or mentioning any agreement. Optical disks in PCs, which is what the cases centred on, are history; streaming and download services have seen to that. * The cases were 3:13-cv-03350 and 3:10-md-02143 in the US District Court in the Northern District of California, San Francisco Division

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/06/26/dell_drops_optical_drive_lawsuit/

Sonicwall Exceeds growth Goals, Partner Expectations After Split From Dell

A year after the company announced its private equity-driven split from #Dell , network security vendor #SonicWall said it has already exceeded its growth goals. SonicWall said it has surpassed the "aggressive financial and operational metrics" it set for its first eight months as an independent company. In an exclusive interview with CRN, CEO Bill Conner said that growth was driven by the company's partner strategy, focus on technology innovation, a growing threat landscape, and an overhaul of the company's service strategy.

The update comes just eight months after SonicWall finalized its split from former parent company Dell. SonicWall announced a year ago in June that it had been sold to Francisco Partners and Elliott Management as part of its sale of the Dell Software Group. SonicWall appointed Conner as CEO when the deal closed in November.

A key factor in that growth has been the company's 100 percent channel strategy, Vice President of Worldwide Sales Steve Pataky said. SonicWall said it has had more than 15,000 partners register for its SecureFirst partner program since it launched, including 4,000 partners new to SonicWall. Those partners have completed more than 10,000 hours of training and 19,000 exams through the company's SonicWall University. The company has also seen a 50 percent growth in partner deal registrations, adding up to more than $250 million in new sales pipeline.

In an interview with CRN, Pataky said that growth is the result of the company's "sustaining investments" in the channel, including a 100-percent commitment to a partner go-to-market model and investments in partner infrastructure, a new partner database, partner portal, SonicWall University training, and more.

"All of the different elements are starting to come together," Pataky said. "These aren't one and done initiatives. You have to commit to them and sustain the investment … This is not a blip. It's a sustaining thing because we made this sustaining investment. Partners vote with their pen and their dollars … They have had as much confidence in SonicWall as we have had in them and that's where we want to be."

Partners said they are also seeing significant growth with SonicWall. Michael Goldstein, president and CEO of Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based LAN Infotech, said he has seen very strong growth with SonicWall since its split from Dell. A long-time SonicWall partner, Goldstein said investments in marketing and technology innovation have driven further growth for his business as a partner.  

"SonicWall has been really good to us," Goldstein said. "It's good to see those [growth numbers]. Hard work pays off."

Julie Neely, president of Napa, Calif.-based Napa Valley Networks, said she has seen an "uptick in our sales and interaction with our new sales team" and taken advantage of new resources to drive sales over the past eight months. She said the company is also getting new leads and marketing assistance "that we didn't see before."

"We were promised additional support and resources when SonicWALL initially announced their changes and our new sales team has exceeded our hopes!  We are extremely pleased with the transition and are looking forward to more growth with SonicWall," Neely said.

Pataky said SonicWall has worked to balance a "respect for the past," with a 25-year history as both an independent company and under Dell, with "doing the right thing for the next generation" of the company. He said partners see a now independent SonicWall as a "rebirth" of the company, driving high rates of adoption of the company's security solution.

Pataky said SonicWall is now looking to take that channel vision globally with expansions into Europe and other global markets. He said SonicWall is also looking to expand its distribution relationships, which he said will benefit from its standalone security focus.

Conner said SonicWall has added to that "excitement early on" with a focus on technology innovation, most notably its Capture advanced threat protection service, and improved support and field enablement. He said the company has embraced a "startup" culture, with engineers passionate to stay late and work on the company's technology and even the occasional beer event.

LAN Infotech's Goldstein said that technology innovation has been a key growth driver for his business. He said his company has seen a "tremendous" amount of demand for the new Capture solution. He said the launch of the new cloud-based Global Management System also is "something new we were all looking for."

Both Conner and Pataky said the key to continuing this growth momentum is consistency and execution.

"To much is given, much is expected," Conner said. "We are just going to keep doing the same thing."

http://m.crn.com/news/security/300087811/crn-exclusive-sonicwall-exceeds-growth-goals-partner-expectations-after-split-from-dell.htm

Gigamon Hires Former Dell EMC Exec as SVP of Worldwide Sales

#Gigamon, the network traffic visibility company, has hired Burney Barker, previously #DellEMC ‘s senior vice president of global sales for its converged platforms and solutions division ( #CPSD ), as senior vice president of worldwide sales.

At Gigamon, Barker will oversee the entire global sales function, including both direct and indirect sales teams. He has more than 25 years of sales, management and leadership experience in well-known technology brands.

“With his strong track record of managing global accounts and theaters, growing revenue across diverse market segments and effectively selling the value of premium products, Barker is a great fit for Gigamon,” said Paul Hooper, Gigamon’s CEO. “His focus on sales execution, understanding of complex enterprise sales processes and ability to leverage alternate sales channels are exactly what we need as we go into our next phase of profitable growth. With Burney at the helm, we will continue to focus on securing net new customers, expanding our footprint within our existing accounts and continuing to expand internationally.”

Barker’s experience at CPSD includes global account leadership where he increased customer acquisition, leadership of Americas sales where he led year on year growth, and a two-year assignment in London where he grew EMEA revenue. He also played a key role in leading partners and alliances, working with #Cisco and #VMware to form the unified #VCE leadership team that drove a significant portion of the venture’s revenue.

“Gigamon enjoys a commanding lead in the healthy and growing network traffic visibility market,” he said. “With industry-leading products that play a foundational and essential role in security solutions, as well as the ability to provide visibility across physical, virtual and cloud environments, we have a huge opportunity in front of us. I look forward to working with the executive team and the extended sales organizations to maximize our revenue potential.”

http://www.channelpartnersonline.com/2017/06/26/gigamon-hires-former-dell-emc-exec-as-svp-of-worldwide-sales/

VMware’s Bill Rowan: Software-Defined Networking Key to Agencies’ Workload Mgmt, Security Efforts

Bill Rowan, vice president of federal sales at #VMware’s (NYSE: VMW), has said #softwaredefinednetworking platforms are designed to help agencies build and compartmentalize networks without shutting down the entire infrastructure in the event of a cybersecurity breach. Rowan wrote that #SDN tools could help agencies manage workloads in public cloud environments and on premises as well as oversee their employees’ mobile devices. “Most software-defined networking solutions also work with any platform, which means agencies can use multiple companies’ technology and build a truly heterogeneous environment,” he added. He also discussed the potential benefits of implementing a virtual desktop infrastructure and cloud-based software as a service offerings to agencies when it comes to managing applications and facilitating employees’ access to such apps. Rowan, an inductee into Executive Mosaic’s Wash100 for 2017, also urged agencies to update legacy apps before transitioning to the cloud as well as develop policies and procedures to address potential internal and external security threats.

https://www.govconwire.com/2017/06/vmwares-bill-rowan-software-defined-networking-key-to-agencies-workload-mgmt-security-efforts/

Quantum Computing Market 35.12% CAGR by 2021 Says a New Research Report at ReportsnReports.com

PUNE, India, Jun 26, 2017 (PR Newswire Europe via COMTEX) -- PUNE, India, June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The latest trend gaining momentum in the #quantumcomputing market is growth of #AI and #machinelearning. AI is a branch of science that deals with computers, machines, software, and computer-operated robots to think intelligently to find solutions for complex problems in a manner that is like how a human brain thinks. AI is applied to the projects that require a human's intellectual processes such as the ability to reason, derive conclusions from the past, and generalize certain learnings. Machine learning is a type of AI that allows computers to self-learn. When a computer is exposed to new data, it can analyze it, make decisions, grow, and learn from this data.

According to the quantum computing market report, one of the major drivers for this industry is increasing expenditure by stakeholders. There are different stakeholders in the quantum computing industry, namely governments and private enterprises that have shown an increasing interest in quantum computing. Quantum computing will have potential applications in a variety of sectors such as aerospace and defense, civil aviation, cybersecurity, finance, healthcare, and logistics. The potential applications have compelled governments and companies to focus on developing quantum computers and related technologies. The investments by these stakeholders drive the global quantum computing market.

The following companies as the key players in the global quantum computing market: #DWave Systems, #Google, #IBM, #Intel, and #Microsoft. Other prominent vendors in the market are: #1QB Information Technologies, #Anyon Systems, #CambridgeQuantumComputing, #IDQuantique, #IonQ, #QbitLogic, #QCWare, #QuantumCircuits, #Qubitekk, #QxBranch, and #Rigetti Computing. 

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/quantum-computing-market-3512-cagr-by-2021-says-a-new-research-report-at-reportsnreportscom-2017-06-26-10203147

Dell Boomi Announces Boomi World 2017, Inaugural Customer Conference

ROUND ROCK, Texas, June 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- #DellBoomi™ (Boomi), the number one integration cloud provider, announced that its inaugural customer conference will take place at The Westin St Francis hotel in San Francisco from September 20-22 2017. Boomi World will bring together the global Boomi community to learn, network and share best practices on using Boomi's #1 integration platform as a service (iPaaS) to build a connected business.

"We are excited to bring our expansive global community together for the first time," said Chris McNabb, CEO of Dell Boomi. "From the beginning, the Boomi community has played a powerful role in both the company's and our customer's success. We look forward to celebrating alongside our customers and partners and empowering them with the knowledge they need to really drive their business forward."

Boomi World 2017 is the inaugural celebration of Boomi customers and partners who build remarkable businesses through the power of Boomi technology. The event includes three days of informative breakout sessions, illuminating keynotes, case study presentations and hands-on training, starting with certified Pre-Conference Training on Tuesday, September 19. Conference tracks are designed to give attendees the resources and information they need to fully leverage the Boomi in order to digitally transform their organizations. The full 2017 agenda will be available in late July. To purchase tickets and register, visit https://boomiworld.com. Early bird pricing ends July 28, 2017.

With more than 5,800 customers around the world, organizations across every industry relies on Boomi for agile, scalable data and application integration involving both cloud and on-premise applications. iPaaS has overtaken on-premise middleware as the fastest-growing segment of the integration market as organizations seek to connect disparate systems and meet digital transformation goals of greater business agility and customer centricity.

Boomi World offers attendees a front-row seat and an unmatched opportunity to:

Learn best-practice techniques and the latest integration and application development innovationsNetwork with peers, analysts and Boomi executives, technologists and partnersHear about the Boomi product roadmap and customer case studiesShare insights, successes and feedback on the Boomi platform

For more information about 2017 Boomi World, visit the Boomi World website or follow #BoomiWorld17 to learn more. 

http://news.sys-con.com/node/4112344

Insider Selling: Pure Storage, Inc. (PSTG) Director Sells 412,514 Shares of Stock

#PureStorage, Inc. (NYSE:PSTG) Director Michelangelo Volpi sold 412,514 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.02, for a total value of $5,370,932.28. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Michelangelo Volpi also recently made the following trade(s):

On Tuesday, June 20th, Michelangelo Volpi sold 390,957 shares of Pure Storage stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.33, for a total value of $5,211,456.81.On Friday, June 16th, Michelangelo Volpi sold 1,425,000 shares of Pure Storage stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.15, for a total value of $18,738,750.00.On Friday, June 9th, Michelangelo Volpi sold 19,086 shares of Pure Storage stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.00, for a total value of $248,118.00.

Pure Storage, Inc. (NYSE PSTG) traded up 3.42% during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $13.30. The company had a trading volume of 2,168,994 shares. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $12.02 and its 200-day moving average price is $11.34. The stock’s market cap is $2.78 billion. Pure Storage, Inc. has a 12 month low of $9.12 and a 12 month high of $15.14.

Pure Storage (NYSE:PSTG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 24th. The technology company reported ($0.14) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of ($0.22) by $0.08. Pure Storage had a negative net margin of 31.62% and a negative return on equity of 44.04%. The firm had revenue of $182.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $176.13 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted ($0.22) earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 30.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Pure Storage, Inc. will post ($0.27) EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in Pure Storage during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,697,000. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its position in Pure Storage by 11.2% in the fourth quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 242,990 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,748,000 after buying an additional 24,510 shares during the period. Ladenburg Thalmann Financial Services Inc. increased its position in Pure Storage by 88.7% in the fourth quarter. Ladenburg Thalmann Financial Services Inc. now owns 12,170 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $138,000 after buying an additional 5,720 shares during the period. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. increased its position in Pure Storage by 497.3% in the fourth quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 1,548,691 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $17,516,000 after buying an additional 1,289,407 shares during the period. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP increased its position in Pure Storage by 102.1% in the fourth quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 533,112 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $6,029,000 after buying an additional 269,312 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 34.76% of the company’s stock.

Several research firms have recently weighed in on PSTG. Susquehanna Bancshares Inc reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $12.00 price objective (down from $13.00) on shares of Pure Storage in a research note on Friday, March 3rd. Vetr raised Pure Storage from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $15.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 30th. Robert W. Baird reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Pure Storage in a research report on Thursday, May 25th. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Pure Storage in a research report on Thursday, March 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $12.00 target price on shares of Pure Storage in a research report on Thursday, May 25th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $15.29.

Pure Storage Company Profile

Pure Storage, Inc provides a data platform. The Company is focused on delivering software-defined all-flash solutions that are fast and cloud-capable for customers, enabling customers to put data to work for their businesses. Its data platform replaces storage systems designed for mechanical disk with all-flash systems optimized end-to-end for solid-state memory.

https://www.thecerbatgem.com/2017/06/22/insider-selling-pure-storage-inc-pstg-director-sells-412514-shares-of-stock.html

Cohesity Recognized as 2017 Top Workplace by the Bay Area News Group for the Second Year in a Row

SANTA CLARA, CA--(Marketwired - Jun 26, 2017) - #Cohesity, the pioneer of hyperconverged secondary storage, today announced that it has been awarded a 2017 Top Workplaces honor by the Bay Area News Group for the second year in a row. The Top Workplaces lists are based solely on the results of an employee feedback survey administered by WorkplaceDynamics, LLC, a leading research firm that specializes in organizational health and workplace improvement. Click to Tweet: .@Cohesity Recognized as a Top Place to Work by @BANGcareers and @TopWorkplaces for Second Straight Year! https://ctt.ec/BsbUj+ "Receiving this award for both years since our public launch is an honor and a privilege, and it reinforces the winning culture we are trying to build at Cohesity," said Cohesity Head of Human Resources Nicole Rasco. "This recognition from The Bay Area News Group highlights the extremely talented and innovative employees who contribute significantly to building our great company culture, which in turn leads to Cohesity's success." To get more details on the award and all the "Cohesians" who attended the Top Workplaces event last Thursday evening at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, check out Cohesity's blog post as well as our new 2017 video that demonstrates life at Cohesity. Cohesity's hyperconverged secondary storage solution consolidates secondary storage workflows onto a single, unified, and intelligent data platform to simplify operations and reduce costs. Its hyperconverged architecture supports not only storage but also the convergence of data management functions. With Cohesity, enterprises can simplify their storage and data protection infrastructure, improve service levels by reducing backup RTOs and RPOs, and leverage public cloud economics with native cloud integration. In addition, Cohesity empowers a broad range of enterprise customers, such as Cvent, GS1 Canada, Tribune Media, and XO Communications, to gain visibility into their dark data with in-place analytics, accelerate test/dev with copy data management, and reduce total cost-of-ownership for secondary storage by 80 percent or more.

http://m.marketwired.com/press-release/cohesity-recognized-as-2017-top-workplace-bay-area-news-group-second-year-row-2223655.htm