Microsoft Azure Takes Big Steps Forward

At its AzureCon 2015 event, Microsoft rolled out a number of big improvements to its Azure cloud platform centered around containers, security, infrastructure and the Internet of Things (IoT). The company also announced the availability of Microsoft Azure services in India from three regional data centers:  Central India in Pune, South India in Chennai, and West India in Mumbai

"We live in a connected world, and the intelligent cloud is powering it all,” said Scott Guthrie, executive vice president of Microsoft’s Cloud + Enterprise Division. “As data and devices continue to proliferate, there is vast opportunity for businesses to tap into their data to make their applications more intelligent

Highlights include:

General availability of Azure File Storage, featuring support of SMB 3.0 and the ability to mount file shares from anywhere (Azure or on-premises).

• More that 40% of revenue on Azure comes from start-ups
• 80% of Fortune 500 are using the Microsoft cloud.
• New Azure Container Service -- building on work with Docker and Mesosphere to create and manage scalable clusters of host machines onto which containerized applications can be deployed, orchestrated, and managed. Azure Container Service makes it easier to create and manage clusters of hosts pre-configured with Docker, Apache Mesos, Marathon and Docker Swarm. This work couples Azure's hyper-scale and enterprise-grade cloud with proven open source technologies to deliver the foundation for the container deployment, orchestration, and management service any team building container apps will need.
• New N-series, a new family of Azure Virtual Machines (VMs) powered by NVIDIA GPUs. Microsoft is the first hyper-scale provider to announce VMs featuring NVIDIA Grid 2.0 technology and the industry-leading Tesla Accelerated Computing Platform for professional graphics applications, deep learning, high-performance computing and more. A preview will be available in a few months.
• New Azure Mobile Engagement -- a new SaaS-delivered, data-driven user engagement platform that enables real-time fine-grain user segmentation, app user analytics, contextually-aware smart push notifications and in-app messaging across all connected devices.
• New Linux for Azure Data Lake -- aiming to make big data technology simpler and more accessible. Azure Data Lake makes HDInsight, which is Microsoft's Apache Hadoop-based service. Customers logging into the Azure Portal will now have a choice to select either Windows or Linux when deploying HDInsight. 
• New Azure IoT Suite -- brings together preconfigured offerings to enable companies to leverage Azure Stream Analytics for IoT. The latest Stream Analytics updates include support for IoT Hub input the ability to output stream analytics to Azure DocumentDB.
• New Azure CDN using the Akamai network -- integrating Akamai’s  CDN capabilities directly into the Microsoft Azure cloud platform. 
• New Shared Access Signatures, delivering full parity with storage account keys and providing a more secure alternative to delegating access to storage users than storage account keys provide.
• New Azure Storage client library for iOS.
• The Azure Storage client library for Java will soon support client-side encryption complementing the existing capability in the Azure Storage client library for .Net.
• New Azure support for the Financial Services Industry, including a detailed set of Payment Card Industry (PCI) and Data Security Standard (DSS) guidance describing Azure and customer shared responsibilities.

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/

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XO Launches Managed Security Service over AWS Direct Connect

XO Communications (XO), in collaboration with BAE Systems and Fortinet, announced a Managed Security Bundle for businesses using the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Direct Connect service.

The new AWS Direct Connect-enabled managed security bundle enables XO customers to procure high-speed connectivity to the AWS Cloud with firewall technology and managed security from a single provider.

XO integrates firewall technology from Fortinet and highly-respected managed security services from BAE Systems into the XO MPLS network for customers accessing AWS Direct Connect that sign up for the managed security bundle.

“Our new managed security bundle for AWS Direct Connect is an integral element of our network-enabled cloud strategy helping businesses to effectively and efficiently leverage both public and private cloud services to maximize their business productivity,” said Jake Heinz, senior vice president of marketing and product at XO Communications.  “In today’s environment where data security is a top priority, businesses can effortlessly leverage services designed for a higher level of security for their AWS Cloud data accessed through the XO network.”

XO expanded its AWS Direct Connect capabilities in 2014 and currently offers secure network connectivity for enterprises at speeds ranging from 50 Mbps to 10 Gbps.

http://www.xo.com/baesystems-fortinet/

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Juniper Unveils Unite Architecture for Bring Cloud to Enterprise Networks

Juniper Networks unveiled its Unite reference architecture for modernizing enterprise campus and branch networks into cloud-enabled service platforms. The goal is to deliver an agile and secure network architecture for enterprises looking to quickly deploy cloud applications and services through a single, easy-to-manage network management platform.

Juniper Networks Unite is comprised of enterprise switching, security, and routing products and software technologies, as well as third-party solutions through the Open Convergence Framework (OCF). Key innovations in the architecture include Junos Fusion Enterprise, enhancements to Junos Space Network Director as well as advancements to the Juniper Networks EX9200 line of programmable Ethernet switches. Juniper Networks Unite also includes the company's Sky Advanced Threat Prevention, new SRX Series Services Gateways and significant modernization of Junos Space Security Director.

"Amid increasingly connected business environments, Juniper understands our enterprise customers’ complex challenges across the network. The introduction of our Juniper Networks Unite architecture gives our customers the building blocks required to modernize their enterprise campus and branch environments with simple, automated and secure solutions that can harness the power of the cloud - transforming IT from a business necessity into a powerful business asset,” stated Jonathan Davidson, executive vice president and general manager, Juniper Development and Innovation, Juniper Networks.

http://www.juniper.net/us/en/solutions/cloud-enabled-enterprise/

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PLUMgrid Supports Load Balancing as a Service with F5

PLUMgrid released a new version of its Open Networking Suite (ONS) for OpenStack with support for multiple OpenStack distributions, Load Balancing as a Service (LBaaS) plugins, high availability, and dynamic Tunnel Heatmap.

PLUMgrid ONS supports multiple OpenStack distros and installers including Huawei Compass, Mirantis OpenStack, Rackspace Private Cloud, RDO, Red Hat OpenStack Platform, and Ubuntu OpenStack. The newest release, PLUMgrid ONS 4.0, has also achieved Red Hat certification with Red Hat Enterprise Linux OpenStack Platform 7.

PLUMgrid ONS is adding support for OpenStack LBaaS (load balancing as a service) for Microservices. The company said that with the growth of microservices in data centers, LBaaS demand is increasing to provide seamless application and workload performance to all tenants. Utilizing LBaaS extensions in the Neutron API, PLUMgrid and F5 Networks have validated interoperability between F5 BIG-IP Application Delivery Controllers (ADCs) and ONS 4.0 to verify deployment scenarios for high availability with scale-out, scalable IP addressing, and real-time overlay tunnel status.

http://www.plumgrid.com/

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Tata Communications Builds ExpressRoute for Office 365

Tata Communications has teamed up with Microsoft to connect businesses to Office 365 via the Tata IZO network platform and ExpressRoute private connections.

The IZO Private cloud enablement service is part of Tata Communications’ IZO, a global network platform for enhanced hybrid cloud enablement. IZO is uniquely engineered for predictable routing, together with enterprise private and public cloud connectivity and interconnected data centers.

"By offering Azure ExpressRoute for Office 365 through its IZO Private platform, Tata Communications is providing customers the enhanced security and reliability that come with a private connection, ultimately taking cloud-based communication and collaboration to the next level," stated Ross Ortega, Principal Product Manager, Networking, Microsoft Azure.

http://www.tatacommunications.com/

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