VMware's vCloud Air Network Validates Hybrid Services from Partners

VMware introduced its vCloud Air Network -- a collection of validated cloud services based on VMware technology and choice of cloud providers on a local basis.

The idea is to be able to provision workloads to the public cloud or move existing workloads between onsite data centers or internal private clouds to the public cloud, and back again as needed in a VMware environment.

VMware vCloud Air Network is comprised of VMware vCloud Air, a VMware owned and operated cloud service, and the company's ecosystem of over 3,800 VMware Service Provider partners around the world.

"We continue to see tremendous momentum for VMware vCloud Air as more and more businesses look to capitalize on the undeniable operational and economic benefits of hybrid cloud," said Bill Fathers, executive vice president and general manager, Hybrid Cloud Services Business Unit, VMware. "The VMware vCloud Air Network represents another key element of our cloud strategy -- enabling customer choice and flexibility to find the ideal, local cloud service based on industry leading VMware technology. Our customers can focus their resources on growing their business, knowing that by using VMware vCloud Air or one of our vCloud Air Network partners, their IT team can seamlessly and securely extend their data centers and applications to the cloud."

http://www.vmware.com/

Read More

China Telecom and IBM Sign 3-Year Deal to Build SAP Clouds

China Telecom and IBM announced a three-year agreement to help small and medium businesses (SMBs) implement secure, cost-effective and scalable SAP cloud-based applications.

China Telecom will manage clients’ infrastructure that includes cloud platform resources, networking and mobile devices. IBM will integrate the software, hardware and end-to-end service capabilities to create a complete environment in that supports SAP applications on the cloud.

“Today’s announcement represents an important step in the Chinese cloud computing market that will provide one of the fastest growing segments within China greater access to cloud resources,” said D.C. Chien, general manage
r and chief executive officer, IBM Greater China Group. “Our work with China Telecom will provide small-to-medium sized businesses in China with the means to more quickly deploy enterprise-grade cloud capabilities and assist them in driving innovation via the cloud.”

http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/44636.wss

Read More

HP Signs Partner for Helion Cloud Services in China

HP signed an agreement with Beijing UnionRead Information Technology Ltd., a leading content distribution network service provider and hybrid cloud operator, to build and operate enterprise clouds in China using HP Helion solutions based on OpenStack technology.

The deal is a a significant step forward the HP Helion portfolio, especially in China.

Specifically, UnionRead will establish a dedicated team to build, operate and support community clouds. UnionRead also plans to deploy HP Helion as the technology foundation that extends across its data centers throughout China. UnionRead community clouds will offer the following technical capabilities:

• Infrastructure as a service (IaaS) — compute, storage and networking using HP Helion OpenStack commercial distribution.
• Platform as a service (PaaS) — the HP Helion Development Platform based on Cloud Foundry, a leading open-source development project, enabling developers and system integrators to build cloud-native applications using a flexible, open architecture.
• Software as a service (SaaS) — services from HP and HP partners spanning a wide range of business applications, such as big data analytics.

“Community clouds will become increasingly prevalent in China as communities of interest, such as an automotive supply chain or a city government, seek to gain efficiencies and speed by leveraging a common cloud infrastructure,” said Martin Fink, executive vice president and chief technology officer, HP. “Through our relationship with UnionRead, we will be able to offer customers a fully supported hybrid-cloud solution, leveraging OpenStack technology, to quickly and reliably build community clouds.”

http://hp.com/helion

Read More

Bethany Mayer Joins Ixia as President and CEO

Ixia named Bethany Mayer as president and chief executive officer effective

Mayer brings over 25 years of technology experience to Ixia and joins the company from HP where she has held several key executive roles since 2010. Most recently, Mayer served as HP’s senior vice president and general manager of its Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) business and led the company’s NFV initiative. Previously, Mayer was senior vice president and general manager of the HP Networking Business unit, where under her leadership the business unit delivered 12 consecutive quarters of growth. Prior to that, Mayer was vice president, marketing and alliances for HP’s Enterprise Servers Storage and Networking Group. Prior to joining HP, Mayer served as senior vice president of worldwide marketing and corporate development at Blue Coat Systems, and held product marketing roles at Cisco Systems and Apple Computer.

The appointment becomes effective the day after Ixia becomes current in its periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).  Mayer will also join Ixia’s board of directors.

“We are delighted to appoint Bethany Mayer as Ixia’s president and chief executive officer,” commented Errol Ginsberg, Ixia's chairman and acting chief executive officer. “Today’s networking trends are revolutionary, not evolutionary, and virtualization is playing a key role in the transformation of service provider and enterprise networks around the world. Therefore, it was paramount for Ixia to find a candidate intimately involved with these new networking technologies, and we believe Bethany is the ideal executive to build upon Ixia’s industry leading foundation.”

http://www.ixiacom.com

Read More

HP Intros Virtual Storage Appliances, OpenStack Cloud Integration

HP introduced new virtual storage appliances for the software-defined data center (SDDC), OpenStack cloud integration capabilities and a new entry-level all-flash array to enable affordable application performance acceleration.

The HP StoreVirtual Virtual Storage Appliance (VSA)is a fully integrated storage option for HP Helion OpenStack and HP Helion OpenStack Community Edition. HP has also enhanced HP StoreVirtual Storage hypervisor integration and released a new HP StoreOnce VSA license that cuts backup costs by 86 percent for small and remote sites.

Additionally, HP is enabling high service levels while removing cost barriers to flash storage adoption with the HP 3PAR StoreServ 7200 All-Flash Starter Kit (starting at $35,000)

“As customers move to the software-defined data center, they face gaps with legacy hardware-oriented storage,” said David Scott, senior vice president and general manager, HP Storage. “For increased agility, HP delivers software-defined storage via VSAs that optimize cost and all-flash, service-refined storage to optimize service levels—both orchestrated with common tools.”

http://www8.hp.com/us/en/hp-news/press-release.html?id=1753931#.U_q5aPmwJnQ

Read More

FCC Posts Rules for Medical Body Area Networks

The FCC finalized rules covering Medical Body Area Networks (MBANs) used as a platform for wireless networking of multiple body sensors for performing diagnostic or therapeutic functions, primarily in health care facilities. MBAN devices promise to enhance patient safety, care and comfort by reducing the need to physically connect sensors to essential monitoring equipment by cables and wires.

An MBAN is a low power network of sensors worn on the body controlled by a hub device that is located either on the body or in close proximity to it. MBAN devices operate in the 2360-2400 MHz band on a secondary basis, that is, they mus not cause harmful interference to and must accept interference from Federal and non-Federal stations operating in the band in accordance with the Table of Frequency Allocations. The 2360-2390 MHz band is allocated for the Mobile Service on a primary basis and is used for aeronautical mobile telemetry (AMT). The 2390-2400 MHz band is allocated for both the Amateur Service and the Mobile Service on a primary basis.

More online.

http://www.fcc.gov/document/commission-finalizes-rules-operation-medical-body-area-networks

Read More

IBM Expands Linux on Power Systems

Following on last year's commitment of $1 billion in new Linux and open source technologies for its Power Systems servers, IBM announced plans to tap its global network of over 50 IBM Innovation Centers and IBM Client Centers to help push Big Data and cloud computing software applications for clients using Linux on IBM Power Systems servers.

Power Systems Linux Centers are already operational in Beijing, Tokyo, New York, Austin, and Montpelier, France.  Currently, over 1500 ISV applications are available for Linux on Power, fueled in part by work performed at these centers.

This expansion will bring Linux on Power Services to 54 locations worldwide.  Resources vary by location and can include:

• In-person and online Linux training workshops that show developers how to migrate and optimize their applications using Red Hat Enterprise Linux, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, and Canonical Ubuntu Server Linux technologies on Power Systems.
• Hands-on assistance from dedicated Linux and IBM systems specialists to show developers how to take advantage of IBM's unique POWER8 parallel processing and advanced virtualization capabilities.
• Access to IBM's business consulting specialists and Business Partner resources to develop joint go to market strategies for Power System and Linux based solutions. 

http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/44634.wss

Read More