California Looks to CalCloud for Gov IT in the Cloud

The California Department of Technology and IBM introduced CalCloud, a public-private partnership aimed at migrating government services into the cloud.

IBM is supplying and managing the infrastructure, while the California Department of Technology will manage all other aspects of the service offering. In addition to IBM, CalCloud partners include AT&T, which will provide network services for the core and edge networks, and IT consulting firms Alexan International and KPMG will help drive CalCloud’s adoption rate and migration to the new service.

More than 20 state departments have already requested IT services through CalCloud, which uses security standards based on National Institute of Standards (NIST) for cloud based services and FedRAMP.

The California Department of Technology said the main benefit of CalCloud will be to give state and local government the ability to buy only the computing resources needed with the flexibility to quickly scale up or scale down resources as workloads demand.

CalCloud is an important step towards providing faster and more cost effective IT services to California state departments and ultimately to the citizens of California,” said Marybel Batjer, Secretary of the Government Operations Agency.

“Transforming how the State of California delivers technology services is not only more efficient and cost effective, it will spur innovation with cloud capabilities that are open and secure,” said Erich Clementi, Senior Vice President, IBM Global Technology Services. “California is setting an example for other states on how to use cloud technology to improve coordination across agencies and municipalities while reducing the barriers and duplication that can impede the delivery of government services.”

http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/44436.wss
http://servicecatalog.otech.ca.gov/services/cloud/calcloud/docs/CalCloudBrochure.pdf
http://servicecatalog.otech.ca.gov/

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Intel's Latest SSDs Offer 256-bit Encryption and OPAL 2.0 Policy Control

Intel introduced a new SSD Pro 2500 Series drive featuring security and manageability features aimed at business users.

The Intel Pro 2500 Series SSDs are self-encrypting drives (SED) utilizing hardware-based 256-bit encryption to protect data without a loss of performance. Additionally, the new Intel drives feature the Trusted Computing Group's OPAL 2.0 standard and are Microsoft eDrive capable. These policy-based controls help to prevent data breaches and support crypto erase to repurpose the drive for reuse.

Intel SSD Pro 2500 Series offers IT departments peace of mind with advanced security features and capabilities designed for businesses ranging from small companies through large IT-managed enterprises. Security and remote manageability features, combined with

Intel also claims lower annual failure rates (under 1%) than hard disk drives (HDDs), which typically reach as high as 5% in mobile devices.

"The Intel SSD Pro 2500 Series is the second-generation OPAL-based client storage solution that helps IT departments protect their users' data and also provides valuable features to reduce operational costs," stated Candace Worley, senior vice president and general manager, Endpoint Security, McAfee*, part of Intel Security. "The Pro 2500 Series is a perfect companion to our data protection solutions, managed by McAfee ePolicy Orchestrator, all working in concert to provide IT departments with data security, management and control, wherever their endpoints may be."

The drives can also be managed remotely with Intel vPro technology.

The Intel SSD Pro 2500 Series will be available in both 2.5-inch and M.2 form factors and in capacities ranging from 120GB to 480GB.

http://www.intel.com/ssd

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Equinix Buys Out Brazil's ALOG Data Center Business

Equinix has bought the remaining shares it did not already own in ALOG Data Centers of Brazil for US$225 million in cash.

In April 2011, Equinix, together with Riverwood Capital, acquired a majority stake of ALOG, with Equinix holding a 53 percent ownership of the company. With today’s announcement, Equinix has purchased the remaining 47 percent stake and will integrate the company into Equinix.

ALOG serves approximately 1,500 customers across its four data centers in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.

“ALOG’s strong position in Brazil and complementary business model provided Equinix the opportunity to establish a presence in an important emerging market and meet growing demand for data center services in Latin America,” said Karl Strohmeyer, president of the Americas for Equinix. “The ALOG team has done an outstanding job of leveraging the company’s strength in Brazil – specifically in cloud and mobility – and integrating it into Equinix’s global footprint to extend the world’s leading data center platform into Brazil.”

Equinix also announced an expansion of its second São Paulo (SP2) International Business Exchange (IBX) data center. SP2 is a Tier III-certified data center located in the São Paulo suburb of Tamboré. is home to two popular online services in Brazil: Apontador, a search engine visited every day by one in five Brazilians, and Maplink, an API geo-localization platform. Both are owned by Local LBS Group, and collectively generate 40 terabytes of data per month.

http://www.equinix.com

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Anritsu Intros All-in-one Instrument with Full OTN Mapping

Anritsu introduced an all-in-one optical field instrument with the ability to conduct Optical Transport Network (OTN) mapping of all client signals as well as multi-stage mapping in a lightweight, small portable package.

The MT1000A Network Master Pro is an all-in-one OTN tester that provides users with the capability to measure with Ethernet and SDH/SONET client signals, making it easier for technicians to install and maintain mobile and fixed-access, metro, and core transmission networks. It supports the new OTN features ODU0 and ODUflex, as well as Ethernet, Fibre Channel and SDH/SONET at rates up to 10 Gbps. Legacy PDH and DSn interfaces can also be measured with the MT1000A Network Master Pro. Field technicians can use the instrument to quickly and accurately locate and solve problems in the transport network without having to contact a remote network operations center.

"Modern networks are utilizing enhanced packet optical transport technology such as OTN to support robust, fault tolerant transport of native Ethernet- and TDM-based clients over optical meshed networks. Additionally, Fibre Channel has grown significantly to meet the demand for data center connectivity and storage area networks (SANs). Anritsu has developed the MT1000A to support the network operator, administrator, engineer, and technician who must measure existing client traffic as stand-alone native signals as well as encapsulated clients in OTN transport," said Pete Alexander, PhD, Vice President and General Manager of Anritsu Company.

http://www.anritsu.com/en-US/Media-Room/News-releases/2014/2014-07-25-NRP004406.aspx

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BSkyB Consolidates European Footprint with Acquisitions of Sky Italia and Sky Deutschland

BSkyB announced plans to acquire 21st Century Fox’s 100% stake in Sky Italia and its 57.4% interest in Sky Deutschland.

The deals will give the pay TV provider a total of 20 million customers in three of Europe’s four biggest markets. BSkyB currently serves 11.5 million customers in the UK and Ireland.

The total consideration for the acquisition of Sky Italia is £2.45 billion with approximately £2.07 billion to be paid in cash and the balance to be satisfied through the transfer of BSkyB's 21% stake in National Geographic Channel International to 21st Century Fox at a value of £382 million. The acquisition of 21st Century Fox’s shareholding in Sky Deutschland is for a consideration of £2.9 billion in cash, valuing Sky Deutschland at €6.75 per share.

"This transaction will create a world-class, multinational pay TV business with enhanced headroom for growth and immediate benefits of scale. The three Sky businesses are leaders in their home markets and will be even stronger together. By creating the new Sky, we will be able to use our collective strengths and expertise to serve customers better, grow faster and enhance returns," stated Jeremy Darroch, BSkyB's Chief Executive.

https://skypressoffice.co.uk/

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