Technology to further optimize the company's servers for cloud computing, analytics and other new workloads.
IBM, a provider of IT infrastructure services, today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire BLADE Network Technologies (BLADE), a provider in network virtualization for servers and storage. The company says that the acquisition is anticipated to close in the fourth quarter of 2010, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions and applicable regulatory reviews. Financial terms were not disclosed by it.
The company explains that BLADE provides blade server and top-of-rack switches as well as software to virtualize and manage cloud computing and other workloads. Customers include more than half of the companies on the Fortune 500 list across 26 industry verticals, including automotive, telecom services, education, government, healthcare, defense and finance. The company and BLADE have worked together since 2002, resulting in thousands of joint clients. In fact, over 50 percent of its System x BladeCenters currently attach to or use BLADE products (1).
It further explains that the BLADE acquisition builds on the capabilities and technologies the company is applying to its systems, which are optimized to help clients manage a range of new, more demanding workloads. This year, it introduced a full line-up of new, workload-optimized systems that incorporate innovation at each level - from microprocessors and firmware software to middleware and hardware. With BLADE, the company can drive innovation at the systems networking level to enable clients to speed the delivery of key information from system to system - for workloads such as analytics and cloud computing - while also reducing data center costs.
According to the company, emerging business models from smart grids to smart traffic systems are infusing intelligence into every day processes, generating a torrent of information. Business decisions require rapid access to that information. BLADE's switches and software are designed to improve systems performance for faster delivery of information, optimize virtual environments and lower energy use.
It states that over the past 18 months, the company has expanded its core networking business through relationships with leading networking companies. It plans to continue providing clients a choice in core networking solutions through these important, ongoing relationships while using BLADE's industry standard-based system networking technology to create systems that are efficient, easy to manage and simple to deploy. Today, networks are made up of different layers, each one designed to pass information up and down to the next layer as data is processed. BLADE's switches will be brought closer to the company's systems and then pass information to the core networking layer, optimizing systems performance.
The company avers that BLADE provides software that helps address the massive virtualization requirements of cloud computing environments. BLADE software allows servers to more closely integrate with the network so that clients can deploy thousands of virtual machines to run large application workloads in the cloud and reduce complexity through simplified management.
"BLADE will help IBM better integrate networks with its systems, optimizing them for workloads that require high-speed and low-latency performance such as cloud computing and business analytics. For example, faster data transport enables faster decisions important for analytics workloads," said Brian Truskowski, General Manager, IBM System Storage and Networking. "BLADE will increase IBM's System Networking development, sales, support, skills and awareness and help IBM build smarter systems that are optimized for client requirements."
"BLADE views this as a great opportunity to continue working with the ecosystem of technology providers that have helped make our company successful while allowing our technology to become a more central part of the data center," said Vikram Mehta, CEO of BLADE. "Our very talented and hard working people are focused on building innovative system networking solutions, making BLADE an ideal fit to help IBM execute on its strategy to build smarter systems that deliver more value to clients around the world."
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
HP Completes Acquisition of 3PAR
Accelerates HP Converged Infrastructure strategy and expands company's solutions portfolio for cloud computing and service provider markets.
HP, a technology solutions provider, today announced that it has completed the acquisition of 3PAR Inc., a provider of utility storage, for a price of $33 per share in cash, or an enterprise value of $2.35 billion.
The company claims that 3PAR technologies expand its storage portfolio into enterprise-class public and private cloud computing environments, which are its key growth markets. Complementary with the company's current storage portfolio, 3PAR brings market-differentiating technology to the company that will enable clients to maximize storage utilization, balance workloads and automate storage tiering. This allows clients to improve productivity and more efficiently operate their storage networks.
It mentions that with a worldwide sales and channel network, coupled with extensive service operations, the company is uniquely positioned to rapidly expand 3PAR's market opportunity. As part of the HP Converged Infrastructure portfolio, which integrates servers, storage, networking and management technologies, 3PAR solutions will further strengthen its ability to simplify data center environments for clients. The company adds that further details on product integration will be announced at a later date.
According to it, the acquisition was completed by means of a tender offer by a company subsidiary for all of the outstanding shares of 3PAR followed by the merger of that purchasing subsidiary with 3PAR, as a result of which 3PAR became a wholly-owned subsidiary of the company. The tender offer expired at midnight, New York City time, on Sept. 24, 2010. As of that time, approximately 55.9 million shares, representing approximately 87.8 percent of 3PAR's outstanding shares, were tendered and not withdrawn in the offer. The company has accepted for payment all tendered shares. It completed the merger with 3PAR following the exercise of the top-up option contemplated by the merger agreement.
HP, a technology solutions provider, today announced that it has completed the acquisition of 3PAR Inc., a provider of utility storage, for a price of $33 per share in cash, or an enterprise value of $2.35 billion.
The company claims that 3PAR technologies expand its storage portfolio into enterprise-class public and private cloud computing environments, which are its key growth markets. Complementary with the company's current storage portfolio, 3PAR brings market-differentiating technology to the company that will enable clients to maximize storage utilization, balance workloads and automate storage tiering. This allows clients to improve productivity and more efficiently operate their storage networks.
It mentions that with a worldwide sales and channel network, coupled with extensive service operations, the company is uniquely positioned to rapidly expand 3PAR's market opportunity. As part of the HP Converged Infrastructure portfolio, which integrates servers, storage, networking and management technologies, 3PAR solutions will further strengthen its ability to simplify data center environments for clients. The company adds that further details on product integration will be announced at a later date.
According to it, the acquisition was completed by means of a tender offer by a company subsidiary for all of the outstanding shares of 3PAR followed by the merger of that purchasing subsidiary with 3PAR, as a result of which 3PAR became a wholly-owned subsidiary of the company. The tender offer expired at midnight, New York City time, on Sept. 24, 2010. As of that time, approximately 55.9 million shares, representing approximately 87.8 percent of 3PAR's outstanding shares, were tendered and not withdrawn in the offer. The company has accepted for payment all tendered shares. It completed the merger with 3PAR following the exercise of the top-up option contemplated by the merger agreement.
CloudSigma Adds Rackspace Cloud API Compatibility
The API emulator is designed to extend compatibility of the cloud to the Rackspace API which also forms the basis of the new OpenStack initiative.
CloudSigma AG, a provider of cloud servers, today announced the launch of a new Rackspace API emulator for its customers. The company avers that the API emulator is designed to extend compatibility of its cloud to the Rackspace API which also forms the basis of the new OpenStack initiative. By adding a Rackspace API emulator, it is able to offer existing Rackspace customers a smooth migration path to its cloud without the need to re-development any API based tools that the customer may already be using.
According to the company, its open software and networking layers support additional functionality not offered within the Rackspace platform. As a result, it is running its Rackspace API emulator in parallel to its existing full feature API that includes a number of additional features unique to the company's platform. It claims that users of the company's cloud will now be able to choose between its native API and the Rackspace API Emulator seamlessly. The web console will continue to run under both systems. The company plans to roll out additional API emulators in response to customer demand and feedback.
The company states that it hopes the new API emulators will prove popular with the increasing number of US based clients that it is attracting, particularly from within Rackspace's existing customer base. When used in conjunction with the unique Physical-to-Virtual (P2V) FTP gateway, it is possible to add a European availability zone to existing cloud based infrastructure with ease in a number of short easy steps:
* Extract RAW ISO files from existing Rackspace compatible cloud infrastructure
* FTP in the ISO files to the company's cloud
* Re-configure networking on the new servers with correct IP information
* Re-point any relevant API scripts to the company's Rackspace API emulator
It further states that by minimizing the development and migration time needed, the return on investment of a transition or extension of infrastructure using its cloud is significantly higher than with competing platforms. The company is already experiencing significant interest from new potential US customers following the launch of the API emulator. It decided to start development of its API emulators after working with a number of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) providers that were looking to add European availability zones to their existing US cloud infrastructure underlying their service offerings.
CloudSigma AG CEO Patrick Baillie commented, "The Rackspace API emulator is the latest new product as part of a continuing effort to improve interoperability. Interoperability is crucial in eliminating data and vendor lock-in which has been a rising concern amongst prospective customers in the IaaS space." Patrick continued, "Many customers are spending significant time developing for different competing clouds that lack compatibility. This can easily eat into the cost savings and return on investment that using cloud infrastructure can convey to customers. Minimizing migration and development time between clouds allows our customers to concentrate on their own business and not waste time keeping up with changing compatibilities within the IaaS space."
CloudSigma AG, a provider of cloud servers, today announced the launch of a new Rackspace API emulator for its customers. The company avers that the API emulator is designed to extend compatibility of its cloud to the Rackspace API which also forms the basis of the new OpenStack initiative. By adding a Rackspace API emulator, it is able to offer existing Rackspace customers a smooth migration path to its cloud without the need to re-development any API based tools that the customer may already be using.
According to the company, its open software and networking layers support additional functionality not offered within the Rackspace platform. As a result, it is running its Rackspace API emulator in parallel to its existing full feature API that includes a number of additional features unique to the company's platform. It claims that users of the company's cloud will now be able to choose between its native API and the Rackspace API Emulator seamlessly. The web console will continue to run under both systems. The company plans to roll out additional API emulators in response to customer demand and feedback.
The company states that it hopes the new API emulators will prove popular with the increasing number of US based clients that it is attracting, particularly from within Rackspace's existing customer base. When used in conjunction with the unique Physical-to-Virtual (P2V) FTP gateway, it is possible to add a European availability zone to existing cloud based infrastructure with ease in a number of short easy steps:
* Extract RAW ISO files from existing Rackspace compatible cloud infrastructure
* FTP in the ISO files to the company's cloud
* Re-configure networking on the new servers with correct IP information
* Re-point any relevant API scripts to the company's Rackspace API emulator
It further states that by minimizing the development and migration time needed, the return on investment of a transition or extension of infrastructure using its cloud is significantly higher than with competing platforms. The company is already experiencing significant interest from new potential US customers following the launch of the API emulator. It decided to start development of its API emulators after working with a number of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) providers that were looking to add European availability zones to their existing US cloud infrastructure underlying their service offerings.
CloudSigma AG CEO Patrick Baillie commented, "The Rackspace API emulator is the latest new product as part of a continuing effort to improve interoperability. Interoperability is crucial in eliminating data and vendor lock-in which has been a rising concern amongst prospective customers in the IaaS space." Patrick continued, "Many customers are spending significant time developing for different competing clouds that lack compatibility. This can easily eat into the cost savings and return on investment that using cloud infrastructure can convey to customers. Minimizing migration and development time between clouds allows our customers to concentrate on their own business and not waste time keeping up with changing compatibilities within the IaaS space."
Parallels Launches Linux Shared Hosting NG
New service module makes it possible for service providers to cut infrastructure costs for delivering the service, reduce churn, and decrease downtime.
Parallels, a provider of virtualization and automation software, recently announced the launch of Linux Shared Hosting NG (Next Generation) Service Delivery Solution that will reduce infrastructure and operating expenses for service providers, achieve greater density of web sites per server compared to traditional solutions, and enable to deliver shared web hosting service with guaranteed SLAs.
The company articulates that the new module uses clustering, load balancing and proprietary site isolation technology to deliver 99.99% or better uptime with consistent performance for shared web-hosting services. Small businesses that rely on their web sites value this level of reliability and performance. It claims that service providers are able to achieve profitability and margins through reduced infrastructure and operating costs, reduced churn, and increased average revenue per user by enabling the delivery of hundreds of additional services through its Automation Service Delivery system.
The company mentions that Linux Shared Hosting NG is deployed as a module within its Automation Cloud service delivery software. Service providers that automate cloud service delivery using the company's Automation system are able to profitably host and syndicate hundreds of cloud services including messaging and collaboration, SaaS applications, and various virtualized infrastructures services.
"The shared web hosting market is large and growing. The keys to success in this competitive space are lowering operating costs and delivering a complete set of services for small business customers that leads to higher ARPUs and increased profitability. The Linux Shared Hosting NG module addresses the needs of service providers by achieving these objectives and allowing them to focus on their core business," said Jack Zubarev, President of Marketing and Alliances at Parallels.
"We are constantly looking to offer the best cloud based services to our customers," said Dennis Ng, CEO at Pachosting. "The Linux Shared Hosting NG module reduces operational expenses, eliminates the need to develop and maintain a system that implements clustering and site isolation, and our small business customers get world class reliability for their web site at an affordable price."
Parallels, a provider of virtualization and automation software, recently announced the launch of Linux Shared Hosting NG (Next Generation) Service Delivery Solution that will reduce infrastructure and operating expenses for service providers, achieve greater density of web sites per server compared to traditional solutions, and enable to deliver shared web hosting service with guaranteed SLAs.
The company articulates that the new module uses clustering, load balancing and proprietary site isolation technology to deliver 99.99% or better uptime with consistent performance for shared web-hosting services. Small businesses that rely on their web sites value this level of reliability and performance. It claims that service providers are able to achieve profitability and margins through reduced infrastructure and operating costs, reduced churn, and increased average revenue per user by enabling the delivery of hundreds of additional services through its Automation Service Delivery system.
The company mentions that Linux Shared Hosting NG is deployed as a module within its Automation Cloud service delivery software. Service providers that automate cloud service delivery using the company's Automation system are able to profitably host and syndicate hundreds of cloud services including messaging and collaboration, SaaS applications, and various virtualized infrastructures services.
"The shared web hosting market is large and growing. The keys to success in this competitive space are lowering operating costs and delivering a complete set of services for small business customers that leads to higher ARPUs and increased profitability. The Linux Shared Hosting NG module addresses the needs of service providers by achieving these objectives and allowing them to focus on their core business," said Jack Zubarev, President of Marketing and Alliances at Parallels.
"We are constantly looking to offer the best cloud based services to our customers," said Dennis Ng, CEO at Pachosting. "The Linux Shared Hosting NG module reduces operational expenses, eliminates the need to develop and maintain a system that implements clustering and site isolation, and our small business customers get world class reliability for their web site at an affordable price."
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Afilias Receives Excellence in Online Trust Award
Company gets recognition for Excellence in Registry Services for DNSSEC and Anti-Abuse efforts.
Afilias, a provider of internet infrastructure services and the Registry operator for .INFO, today announced that it has been awarded a 2010 Excellence in Registry Services award from the Online Trust Alliance. The company says that it was recognized on Thursday, September 23rd at the Online Trust Alliances' fifth annual 2010 Excellence in Online Trust Awards in Washington D.C. for its role in online safety initiatives over the past year.
It explains that its cyber security initiatives included its Anti-Abuse Policy for the .INFO domain, which has helped .INFO to continuously score one of the lowest phishing uptimes for all generic top-level domains (TLDs). It also includes cross-industry collaboration initiatives which have helped suppress two of the largest cyber-gangs and incidents in the Internet's history, Avalanche and Conficker. In addition, the company has worked to increase implementation of Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC), a protection against cache-poisoning and man-in-the-middle attacks.
"We appreciate the recognition of our work to enable a more trustworthy internet and owe thanks to a very cooperative industry, including our domain name registrars who have been responsive in helping us address domain abuse," said Ram Mohan, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer for Afilias. "We will continue to strengthen our anti-abuse program and will add DNSSEC protection to more than a dozen registries in the months ahead."
"Afilias is committed to defeating abusive uses of domains and, since introducing our anti-abuse policy in 2008, we have demonstrated measurable results in fighting phishing, malware, and spam," added Greg Aaron, Director of Domain Security for Afilias. "Collaboration with our registrars, the Anti-Phishing Working Group, law enforcement, and security vendors and researchers has helped make our efforts successful. This results-oriented approach and expertise sets our registry services apart."
The Online Trust Alliance specifically cited it as exemplifying excellence in online trust "for the commitment to working with the registry community, ICANN, APWG and other organizations advancing DNSSEC and developing .ORG. Their development of tools successfully have helped to block over 2.5 million Conficker domains and aided anti-abuse policies, resulting in the suspension in over 100,000 abusive domains."
Afilias, a provider of internet infrastructure services and the Registry operator for .INFO, today announced that it has been awarded a 2010 Excellence in Registry Services award from the Online Trust Alliance. The company says that it was recognized on Thursday, September 23rd at the Online Trust Alliances' fifth annual 2010 Excellence in Online Trust Awards in Washington D.C. for its role in online safety initiatives over the past year.
It explains that its cyber security initiatives included its Anti-Abuse Policy for the .INFO domain, which has helped .INFO to continuously score one of the lowest phishing uptimes for all generic top-level domains (TLDs). It also includes cross-industry collaboration initiatives which have helped suppress two of the largest cyber-gangs and incidents in the Internet's history, Avalanche and Conficker. In addition, the company has worked to increase implementation of Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC), a protection against cache-poisoning and man-in-the-middle attacks.
"We appreciate the recognition of our work to enable a more trustworthy internet and owe thanks to a very cooperative industry, including our domain name registrars who have been responsive in helping us address domain abuse," said Ram Mohan, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer for Afilias. "We will continue to strengthen our anti-abuse program and will add DNSSEC protection to more than a dozen registries in the months ahead."
"Afilias is committed to defeating abusive uses of domains and, since introducing our anti-abuse policy in 2008, we have demonstrated measurable results in fighting phishing, malware, and spam," added Greg Aaron, Director of Domain Security for Afilias. "Collaboration with our registrars, the Anti-Phishing Working Group, law enforcement, and security vendors and researchers has helped make our efforts successful. This results-oriented approach and expertise sets our registry services apart."
The Online Trust Alliance specifically cited it as exemplifying excellence in online trust "for the commitment to working with the registry community, ICANN, APWG and other organizations advancing DNSSEC and developing .ORG. Their development of tools successfully have helped to block over 2.5 million Conficker domains and aided anti-abuse policies, resulting in the suspension in over 100,000 abusive domains."
Go Daddy Expands into Asia with New Singapore Data Center
The operation is designed to enable faster services for the company's web hosting and e-mail customers in Asia.
Go Daddy, a domain name registrar and hosting provider, today announced that it is expanding its global reach with another data center - in Singapore. The company avers that the operation is designed to enable faster services for its web hosting and e-mail customers in Asia. It adds that the facility accommodates the company's expanding customer base. The company claims that its customers whose websites run through the new Singapore data center will afford their local visitors faster website load times, based on the distance the data is traveling.
According to it, the company has been expanding in the U.S. and internationally. After seeing an influx of European customers, it opened a data center in The Netherlands last year. In July, the company opened a new office in Hiawatha, Iowa, adding U.S.-based customer care representative jobs to keep up with customer growth. The company mentions that it has long served Asian customers with domain name extensions like .JP, .TW and .ASIA.
"People everywhere are looking for quality products at affordable prices," said Go Daddy CEO and Founder Bob Parsons. "Go Daddy has always been committed to providing the best possible products and services to all our customers. Having data centers strategically located in our growth areas just makes sense."
Go Daddy, a domain name registrar and hosting provider, today announced that it is expanding its global reach with another data center - in Singapore. The company avers that the operation is designed to enable faster services for its web hosting and e-mail customers in Asia. It adds that the facility accommodates the company's expanding customer base. The company claims that its customers whose websites run through the new Singapore data center will afford their local visitors faster website load times, based on the distance the data is traveling.
According to it, the company has been expanding in the U.S. and internationally. After seeing an influx of European customers, it opened a data center in The Netherlands last year. In July, the company opened a new office in Hiawatha, Iowa, adding U.S.-based customer care representative jobs to keep up with customer growth. The company mentions that it has long served Asian customers with domain name extensions like .JP, .TW and .ASIA.
"People everywhere are looking for quality products at affordable prices," said Go Daddy CEO and Founder Bob Parsons. "Go Daddy has always been committed to providing the best possible products and services to all our customers. Having data centers strategically located in our growth areas just makes sense."
Cirrus Tech Upgrades its Xen Virtual Machine Hosting Plans
Company aims to attract SMBs and enterprises looking for an alternative to dedicated server hosting with its Xen VM hosting plans.
Cirrus Tech, a web hosting and virtualization technologies provider, yesterday announced that it has updated its Xen Virtual Machine (VM) hosting plans with a more robust version of the Xen VM offering.
The company articulates that it has observed that more and more SMBs and enterprises are moving away from traditional web hosting solutions, such as dedicated servers, towards a more flexible hosting environment, such as Virtual Private Servers (VPS) and Virtual Machines (VMs). With its Xen VM hosting service, clients can benefit from high-availability, dynamic scalability, and built-in redundancy for their mission-critical hosted applications.
According to it, the hallmark of the company's Xen VM plans is the high-availability options offered. With high-availability, clients can have peace of mind in knowing that if there is a hardware related issue on the hardware node (server) that their VM is currently running on, their VM will be automatically switched to another available hardware node for minimum service interruption.
The company states that with the ability to scale up to 8 CPU Cores and 8 GB of RAM, its Xen VM plans allow clients to start small and scale their service when needed without having to worry about the costs and time associated with migrating their services or upgrading existing hardware. The hardware independence inherent in the Xen VM allows for client's VMs being able to utilize even more resources and newer hardware in the future as they become available.
It further states that each Xen Virtual Machine offered by the company is an isolated virtual environment that is allotted guaranteed resources, such as CPU, RAM, and disk space. The company has built its Xen VM hosting infrastructure with redundancy as a key factor. All Xen VMs run on Dell Blade servers with redundant power and redundant SAS hard drives. Xen VMs feature hardware Raid 6 which allows data redundancy of up to 2 hard drive failures. Clients can also choose to purchase multiple Xen VMs and load balance them with a virtual load balancer add-on. The company adds that its Xen VMs are available in Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008 R2, and the following Linux distributions: CentOS 5, Debian 5, Ubuntu 8.04 and Fedora Core 12.
Cirrus Tech, a web hosting and virtualization technologies provider, yesterday announced that it has updated its Xen Virtual Machine (VM) hosting plans with a more robust version of the Xen VM offering.
The company articulates that it has observed that more and more SMBs and enterprises are moving away from traditional web hosting solutions, such as dedicated servers, towards a more flexible hosting environment, such as Virtual Private Servers (VPS) and Virtual Machines (VMs). With its Xen VM hosting service, clients can benefit from high-availability, dynamic scalability, and built-in redundancy for their mission-critical hosted applications.
According to it, the hallmark of the company's Xen VM plans is the high-availability options offered. With high-availability, clients can have peace of mind in knowing that if there is a hardware related issue on the hardware node (server) that their VM is currently running on, their VM will be automatically switched to another available hardware node for minimum service interruption.
The company states that with the ability to scale up to 8 CPU Cores and 8 GB of RAM, its Xen VM plans allow clients to start small and scale their service when needed without having to worry about the costs and time associated with migrating their services or upgrading existing hardware. The hardware independence inherent in the Xen VM allows for client's VMs being able to utilize even more resources and newer hardware in the future as they become available.
It further states that each Xen Virtual Machine offered by the company is an isolated virtual environment that is allotted guaranteed resources, such as CPU, RAM, and disk space. The company has built its Xen VM hosting infrastructure with redundancy as a key factor. All Xen VMs run on Dell Blade servers with redundant power and redundant SAS hard drives. Xen VMs feature hardware Raid 6 which allows data redundancy of up to 2 hard drive failures. Clients can also choose to purchase multiple Xen VMs and load balance them with a virtual load balancer add-on. The company adds that its Xen VMs are available in Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008 R2, and the following Linux distributions: CentOS 5, Debian 5, Ubuntu 8.04 and Fedora Core 12.
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