Beyond JEDI: Hot Cloud Computing News Headlines from Rackspace, VMware, More
Check out our updates from Sinequa, CloudCheckr, SADA and more.
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Rackspace now delivers a fully managed VMware Cloud experience with Rackspace Services for VMware Cloud.
The managed cloud computing company said the platform includes consumption-based usage, self-service management and real-time provisioning.
Rackspace built the solution on VMware Cloud Director on Dell EMC VxRail. Users may mix and match shared and dedicated tenancy in one environment.
“This isn’t just another hosted VMware product,” said Eric Miller, vice president of private cloud, at Rackspace. “We worked closely with VMware to push the art of what is possible and introduce some new outcomes for our customers that no other managed service provider or hyperscaler’s VMware environment can offer.”
VMware has launched its Zero Carbon Committed cloud partner initiative.
The vendor says it will transition to zero-carbon clouds by 2030. This means powering its cloud partner data centers with renewable energy sources. Atea, Equinix, IBM and OVH are the first data center partners to sign on.
The switch to reliance on renewable energy will happen through a phased approach, VMware said. In the early stages, the vendor will connect customers with providers running its platforms in “efficient” data centers. VMware executives say they hope this will motivate other data center firms to adopt zero-carbon cloud operations as well.
“Longer term, we plan to develop programs to assist providers with launching their renewable energy journeys,” VMware leaders wrote in a recent blog.
For managed service providers and other channel partners using VMware platforms, this seems an obvious way to tout partnerships with vendors concerned about sustainability efforts. These days, more buyers are looking for environmentally friendly suppliers.
“This initiative extends our reach and impact alongside our cloud partners,” Sandy Hogan, senior vice president of the worldwide partner and commercial organization at VMware, told Channel Futures. “It enables us to connect customers who have sustainability goals and are looking for low-carbon solutions with a VMware cloud provider who is committed to achieving zero-carbon clouds through renewable energy-powered operations and energy-efficient data centers.”
Cloud computing has grown from an infrastructure sell to one more focused on services. As such, the popularity of online marketplaces continue to grow.
To that point, software vendor Sinequa has new research that shows the hyperscalers’ cloud marketplaces remain the most used. That was because Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud offer thousands of products and services, compared to the couple hundred available through Oracle Cloud Marketplace and IBM Cloud, Sinequa found.
In terms of demand, respondents told Sinequa they rely most on analytics (51%), storage (51%), databases (48%) and security (46%). When it comes to trends, blockchain, search/insights, and artificial intelligence and machine learning all ranked as fast-growing, Sinequa found.
On average, enterprises run eight difference services purchased through a cloud marketplace, Sinequa said. In addition, 90% of respondents told Sinequa they plan to buy more products or services from a marketplace.
Sinequa polled 250 cloud professionals in the United States and Europe last month.
Application developer OutSystems on Monday released Cloud Accelerators for AWS.
The tools let developers – and partners such as managed service providers – enable digital transformation initiatives. To that point, the first seven Accelerators focus on customer experience transformation, workplace innovation, process optimization and technology modernization.
The Accelerators combine components, samples and training. That way, developers may build scalable applications on key AWS services. Use cases include digital identify verification; video call validation; self-service chatbot; customer and employee engagement virtual personal assistant; and multilingual chatbot and multilingual video interaction. Each use case relies on an Amazon product (think S3, Chime and Alexa as just three examples).
“The past year has put tremendous stress on businesses and compounded decades-old software challenges, hastening the need for innovation,” said Patrick Jean, OutSystems CTO. “We’re launching these capabilities to provide developers across all company sizes and industries with an accelerated path to building modern cloud applications fast, right and for future change.”
Cloud transformation is indeed happening quickly. A new survey from CloudCheckr reveals that 57% of respondents say more than half of their infrastructure now lives in the cloud.
Within five years, 64% expect to be fully in the public cloud. That’s compared to 5% of respondents right now.
“While it’s no surprise to anyone how strong cloud adoption is today, this report shows the tremendous growth ahead and how quickly it will happen over the next half-decade,” said Tim McKinnon, CEO of CloudCheckr. “Now is the time for IT organizations to define the right strategies to utilize the full potential of the cloud and for cloud service providers to enhance their capabilities to lead their customers through cloud transformations.”
CloudCheckr found that cloud cost optimization, as well as security and automation, remain top concerns for stakeholders. Those results point to opportunities for channel partners.
HYCU has joined SADA’s SaaS Alliance Program.
HYCU offers backup and recovery as a service, and now offers it to SADA’s customers. SADA is a Google Cloud Platform-only MSP.
“This is a win-win for joint Google Cloud customers,” said Tony Safoian, CEO at SADA.
Simon Taylor, co-founder and CEO at HYCU, agreed.
“Joining the SADA SaaS Alliance Program and becoming a strategic partner is a unique combination to continue to drive our Google Cloud interest even further and faster in 2021,” Taylor said.
HYCU has joined SADA’s SaaS Alliance Program.
HYCU offers backup and recovery as a service, and now offers it to SADA’s customers. SADA is a Google Cloud Platform-only MSP.
“This is a win-win for joint Google Cloud customers,” said Tony Safoian, CEO at SADA.
Simon Taylor, co-founder and CEO at HYCU, agreed.
“Joining the SADA SaaS Alliance Program and becoming a strategic partner is a unique combination to continue to drive our Google Cloud interest even further and faster in 2021,” Taylor said.
From new platforms and partnerships to climate change and cloud stats, this Monday cloud computing news roundup has it all. You’ve probably already read that the Pentagon might end its Joint Enterprise Defense Initiative project amid all the legal fighting between Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure.
That kind of news tends to drown out other developments. So we’ve compiled some recent announcements, all of which are applicable to the channel. If you’re looking for name recognition, we bring you Rackspace, VMware Cloud, Sinequa, OutSystems, CloudCheckr, HYCU and SADA.
Click through the slideshow above for the cloud computing news you need to know this second week of May.
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