News in Cloud Computing & Data Storage

Infinidat named finalist for Tech Innovator Awards

Infinidat has announced that CRN, a brand of The Channel Company, has named Infinidat as a finalist for the 2023 CRN Tech Innovator Awards. It is being recognised for its InfiniBox solution in the ‘Storage−Enterprise’ category. The InfiniBox solutions portfolio offers two major choices: the InfiniBox SSA II solid-state storage array and the InfiniBox hybrid storage array. For enterprises that require consistent sub-millisecond latency for every I/O, it provides the InfiniBox SSA II, which is the industry’s fastest all-flash storage array with latency as low as 35 microseconds, driving unsurpassed real world application performance. The InfiniBox hybrid system combines DRAM, flash caching layers, and high capacity, cost effective HDDs, optimised by its patented Neural Cache technology. The use of HDDs dramatically lowers the cost of storage, while delivering 100% guaranteed availability, powerful cyber storage resilience and ease of use with its autonomous automation. “With its cyber storage capabilities, InfiniBox is one of the most exciting enterprise storage solutions on the market today, addressing one of the critical concerns of Fortune 500 CEOs − cyber security. Congratulations to Infinidat for repeatedly receiving industry awards for their technological innovation and the business value they bring to our enterprise customers. As a trusted partner, Infinidat continues to provide a powerful storage solution for enterprises who need to get the most out of their storage investment,” says Bob Elliott, Vice President, Storage at Mainline Information Systems. This annual award program showcases innovative vendors in the IT channel across 37 different technology categories, in key areas ranging from cloud to storage to networking to security. To determine the 2023 winners, a panel of CRN editors reviewed hundreds of vendor entries − including solution provider testimonials − using multiple criteria, including key capabilities, uniqueness, technological ingenuity and ability to address customer and partner needs. The Tech Innovator Awards will be featured in the August issue of CRN and can be viewed online at crn.com/techinnovators.

Lunar partners with Zayo to revolutionise digital landscape

Lunar Digital has announced its strategic partnership with Zayo Group. Through this partnership, Lunar will leverage Zayo's extensive network infrastructure and high performance connectivity solutions in all three of Lunar’s Manchester data centres to enhance the delivery of its services to customers. Zayo's robust network will provide Lunar Digital with reliable, secure and scalable connectivity, ensuring optimal performance and seamless integration across various platforms. The partnership marks a significant milestone as the two companies join forces to revolutionise the digital landscape and accelerate the deployment of cutting-edge technologies to customers around the globe. Together, the companies will explore innovative initiatives and collaborate on joint offerings to address the evolving needs of their customers.  "We are thrilled to partner with Zayo," says Rob Garbutt, CEO of Lunar Digital. "Zayo’s expertise in network infrastructure and connectivity solutions will enable us to deliver even greater value to our customers. By leveraging Zayo's powerful network, we can expand the reach and capabilities of our digital solutions, empowering businesses to thrive in the digital era." "The synergy between Lunar Digital’s expertise in digital solutions and Zayo’s network infrastructure provides an exciting opportunity to drive our shared values of powering the future of digital business,” says Yannick Leboyer, Chief Revenue Officer at Zayo. “Zayo's global footprint and comprehensive suite of solutions will enable Lunar Digital to extend its reach to new markets and industries, strengthening its position as a trusted provider of end-to-end digital solutions. We look forward to working together to deliver unparalleled value to customers and to support their digital business initiatives.”  The partnership between Lunar Digital and Zayo represents a significant step forward in their shared mission to enable businesses to thrive in an increasingly digital world. Click here for other latest news.

Aruba launches unlimited storage services

As the digital world grows at an increasing pace, more and more space is needed to store one’s data. For this reason, the web is teeming with articles offering useful tips for saving space, emptying one's inbox of excessively heavy content and tricks on how to free up precious GBs of memory. As of today, one less thought will be required. Aruba has announced the availability of the new unlimited email storage service which will ensure that owners of Aruba email account will no longer have to worry about freeing up space or increasing the capacity of their account, as they will be able to store all their emails with unlimited storage. The company provides its users with a definitive solution to a need that is destined to grow over time. As well as enabling unlimited email storage, it has also made the Aruba Drive application available, which offers an unlimited cloud space where users can store their files, protect them and ensure easy access and sharing capabilities. With the drive, it is possible to store and share numerous types of files, relying not only on unlimited space, but also on a proprietary space relating to one’s own domain name. Once an account has been created and files have been uploaded to the online space, users can view them, share them with whoever they wish and edit them using various tools. It is integrated for working on text documents, spreadsheets and presentations, or for retouching photos and organising photos and videos in albums. SpazioMail Unlimited and Aruba Drive add to the offer of unlimited web space and traffic already present in the Aruba hosting offer, effectively creating an ecosystem of services that revolves around a wide range of quality hosting solutions. Details about unlimited email storage  The service costs €14.99 + VAT/year. Until 2 August 2023, users can register or transfer a domain with email by purchasing unlimited email storage for only €1.99 + VAT for the first year, upon renewal from €30.48 + VAT. Aruba Drive is available in three different plans: Aruba Drive Easy- for storing and digitising files with no space limits and easy access. Includes a user account, unlimited space, domain registration and five email accounts. Costs from €50.00 + VAT/year. Aruba Drive Advanced- provides a storage space that is synchronised with desktop and mobile applications and integrated with working tools to optimise efficiency in daily activities. Includes a user account, unlimited space, domain registration and five email accounts, integrated tools and synchronisation with apps. Costs from €100.00 + VAT/year. Aruba Drive Professional- the most comprehensive solution, ideal for team and company work. Includes ten usernames, unlimited space, domain registration and five email accounts, integrated tools and synchronisation with apps. Costs from €300.00 + VAT/year. In addition, a promotion is available until 20 December 2023 with a 50% discount for the first year on all plans. Click here for more on Aruba.

Cubbit has announced the appointment of two data storage world veterans to its executive team: Richard Czech as Chief Revenue Officer and Enrico Signoretti as VP, Product & Partnerships.   The expansion of the leadership team reinforces the company’s goals around international growth and the realisation of strategic market opportunities in cloud and edge computing. This news follows the launch of Cubbit’s international advisory board, consisting of initial members, Nicolas Ott, Alec Ross and Mikko Suonenlahti.  Richard Czech, the new CRO, has more than 30 years of experience as an entrepreneur and key executive in the storage industry. For the past six years, he was VP EMEA of Sales at Wasabi Technologies, where he led the European go-to-market strategy from startup to unicorn, growing the partner network from zero to thousands and selling hundreds of PB of storage, when it was valued at over $1bn. Prior to Wasabi, he held key positions such as the European Sales Executive for DataXion, CEO of Lightsand Communications, VP of Technology, EMEA at ADIC, and Founder and President of InterBackup.  In his role as Chief Revenue Officer for Cubbit, Richard’s unique experience will lend itself to driving business growth by taking a holistic approach in overseeing the entire revenue cycle, with the alignment of teams, operations and systems, around the customer experience in the go-to market process.  Enrico Signoretti has over 30 years of experience in the IT industry, having held various roles including IT manager, consultant, head of product strategy, IT analyst, and advisor. He is an internationally renowned visionary author, blogger and speaker on next-generation technologies. Over the past four years, Enrico has kept his finger on the pulse of the evolving storage industry as the Head of Research Product Strategy at GigaOm. He has worked closely and built relationships with top visionaries, CTOs, and IT decision makers worldwide. Enrico has also contributed to leading global online sites, with over 40 million readers for enterprise technology news.  Enrico will be drawing upon his vast experience to contribute towards the technical vision, initiatives and strategy of Cubbit’s DS3 solution and the overall business goals, as well as expanding the company’s network of strategic partners, fostering relationships with leading industry players. 

Forestry & Land Scotland embrace cloud technology

Nutanix has announced that Forestry & Land Scotland (FLS) has upgraded its data centre infrastructure to a hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI), selecting the Nutanix Cloud Platform to support a workload of 300 virtual machines. FLS opted for Nutanix Cloud Clusters (NC2) on Microsoft Azure. With Nutanix NC2, it has been able to migrate the whole data centre to Azure without the time, effort and expense of re-engineering applications for native deployment. Founded in 2018 as part of the Scottish devolution process, FLS manages over 1.5 million acres of national forests and land. To meet the short term IT needs of a newly devolved Scottish government agency, at the same time, supporting its move to the public cloud in line with a cloud-first government policy, it was required to rapidly revamp its legacy on-premises data centre. FLS was already using Microsoft Azure to provide for disaster recovery of its on-premise data centre, so naturally, the organisation first looked at re-engineering for native operation of its applications on that platform. It soon realised that NC2 for Azure would be a better, quicker and more cost-effective approach, enabling it to stretch its existing environment seamlessly into the cloud and migrate workflows at its own pace, without having to transform or re-engineer the code in any way. The migration also offered immediate benefits in terms of both performance and on-demand scalability. It resulted in a significantly smaller data centre footprint, in terms of both physical space and power and cooling requirements. As with the original data centre project, Mahlitz, Nutanix was able to help by arranging a proof of concept trial of Nutanix NC2 on Microsoft Azure involving actual FLS production workloads.

Cloud Industry Forum partners with Disruptive Live

The Cloud Industry Forum (CIF) has announced a new media partnership with Disruptive Live. This collaboration marks a significant step change in the delivery of high quality and dynamic content to cloud industry professionals in the UK and globally. David Terrar, CEO, CIF, comments, “This strategic media partnership is another demonstrable step on our journey towards revolutionising what we deliver to our members and the broader cloud industry. It sets the stage for innovation, collaboration and knowledge sharing, and we are excited about the opportunities it brings. We collectively look forward to setting new standards for media content creation and engagement, harnessing the impressive thought leaders within our membership.” Highlights of the partnership include: Launch of ‘Cloud Industry Forum presents TWF!’: A weekly, live streamed news and interview show. Lasting five minutes, the show will provide up-to-the-minute news on cloud computing, followed by a 10 minute interview featuring prominent industry thought leaders. This show promises to keep viewers informed and inspired by the latest trends and insights. A mixed reality virtual set: Designed to provide an immersive and visually engaging experience for live streamed programmes and individual events, it brings the benefits of virtual participation to a global audience. Members and attendees can expect enhanced coverage of CIF events and gain access to exclusive expert interviews and valuable insights. Creation of new in-studio events and glass board sessions: Viewers can experience interactive discussions and collaborative sessions covering the latest topics and innovations.   Social amplification and extended reach: CIF and its members will also gain access to CompareTheCloud and Disruptive Live's extensive social media channels, amplifying their reach to a wider audience and generating increased visibility. The partnership will kick off with the first ‘Cloud Industry Forum presents TWF!’ airing on 17 July at 10am. The initial three week run will showcase three industry luminaries including Ian Jeffs, General Manager of the Lenovo ISG in the UK and Ireland and Director and Chair of CIF; Céline Schillinger, acclaimed author of ‘Dare To Unlead’; and Mark Osborn, AI and Data Partner Ecosystem Sales Leader, EMEA.

Six Degrees gains Microsoft Cloud Security

Six Degrees has announced that it has successfully renewed its Microsoft Azure Expert MSP status and gained new Microsoft Cloud Security and Threat Protection specialisations.  These credentials demonstrate its commitment to holding deep technical expertise, backed by a demonstrable track record and a strategic relationship with Microsoft. Combined, they allow the company to enable organisations to achieve more through secure, integrated cloud services.   This brings several benefits to customers:  Designations aligned to the Microsoft solution areas recognise its broad technical capabilities and demonstrated success delivering technology solutions.  Benefits aligned to its solutions partner designations include product benefits, go to market services, co-sell eligibility, skilling and sales enablement resources, making it easier for customers to buy Microsoft solutions.  Specialisations further validate deep technical expertise after the company attains a Solutions Partner designation, giving customers reassurance that it is well placed to maximise its Microsoft investments.  Simon Crawley-Trice, CEO, Six Degrees, says, “I am delighted to have renewed our status as an Azure Expert MSP program member and I look forward to enabling many more organisations to succeed through the intelligent application of Microsoft technology. This isn’t a time to rest on our laurels, though. At Six Degrees we never stand still when it comes to our partnerships, and we will work to attain further specialisations which align to our core capabilities across cloud, cyber security and connectivity.”  Eleri Gibbon, Director, Services Partners, Microsoft UK, says, “In today’s challenging operating landscape, organisations will benefit from integrated secure cloud solutions that enable them to achieve competitive differentiation while protecting their people and their customers. By embracing the Microsoft Azure stack throughout their secure cloud offerings, Six Degrees is well placed to deliver these solutions to benefit organisations throughout the UK.” 

VMware unveils research on NHS data storage

VMware has unveiled a research sharing that the majority (87%) of UK consumers believe it is important that their NHS patient data is stored in the UK. The study of more than 2,000 UK citizens has revealed that people still have cyber security concerns when it comes to where their personal and sensitive data is stored. Of those who stated it is important for their data to be stored in the UK, more than a third (39%) think that their data stored within the country’s national borders would ensure it complies with UK data privacy regulations. A fifth (22%) do not trust other countries to safeguard their data as well as the UK, and 21% think it will be less susceptible to foreign cyber threats or access foreign entities. Despite this, the research shares a good level of trust in the NHS when it comes to storing and analysing patient data. For instance, 59% of respondents expressed confidence in the NHS's ability to safeguard their sensitive information. But when asked about where their data is stored, most UK public had doubts on their data residing outside of their national boundaries. Businesses share the same attitude. 42% of business leaders are extremely concerned about their critical data being managed by US cloud providers, and 62% have expressed that their current clouds are not meeting their data sovereignty requirements, according to the latest IDC research. Many NHS and social care providers today use non-national public clouds. This means that patient data is currently hosted in a provider currently deemed adequate by the UK, however, if this is a non-national provider, the data could be subject to external jurisdictional control. “This consumer opinion matters as it echoes business sentiment. These findings demonstrate the increasing importance of data integrity and sovereignty in helping the NHS, among other highly regulated industries, realise and unlock the true value of their sensitive and critical data," says Guy Bartram, Cloud Evangelist EMEA, VMware. “By embracing cloud sovereignty, the NHS can build public trust and assertively maintain governance, fortify data protection and help unlock the true value of critical and sensitive patient data in delivering patient services.” "While there are vast rewards to be harvested through applying AI to healthcare data, we have to remember that each data point relates to a patient, and every patient should trust that their privacy is maintained,” says Darren Adcock, Senior Product Manager, Redcentric. “By harnessing the power of AI and advanced technologies within a secure and sovereign cloud framework, the NHS ensures that groundbreaking advancements in healthcare never compromise patient privacy and trust. Sovereign clouds serve as a pivotal enabler, allowing the NHS to drive progress responsibly, ethically, and with the utmost dedication to patient wellbeing.” Sovereignty extends beyond where data is stored, but also how it is used by platforms such as AI, which analyses the data to feed algorithms. The general public surveyed hold diverse opinions regarding AI in healthcare, with 45% open to its use for improved services and 44% happy with the NHS using the technology to process their patient data, if it helped the NHS to process diagnostic tests faster. However, concerns exist, with 25% saying they are against the NHS using AI to process their patient data. “Ongoing digital transformation and the increased use of emerging technologies such as AI, have spurred both excitement for true innovation to revolutionise our NHS, but also a new urgency for how this boom in data will be securely managed and stored,” says Dr Will Venters, Associate Professor of Information Systems, London School of Economics. “With the increased use of multiple clouds to create, store and distribute apps, which the NHS needs, relies on from frontline clinicians through to optimising operations, it is essential to patient trust that the NHS protects sensitive patient data, and this can be achieved by protecting it with sovereign clouds. AI has created new data opportunities so it is critical the NHS can make better use of its data, to build a resilient and patient-centric healthcare system that the UK needs.”

InterCloud offers Oracle EU Sovereign Cloud availability

InterCloud has announced that it is adding connectivity to Oracle EU Sovereign Cloud in Madrid and Frankfurt, as it responds to the increasing demand for customers with EU operations to gain greater control over where their data and workloads are stored. These two new Points of Presence for the company represent an important step, given customers are battling to establish control against a constantly evolving regulatory landscape. This comes as part of its strategic partnership with Oracle and status as a FastConnect partner since 2018, and follows the official announcement of Oracle EU Sovereign Cloud in June. As InterCloud is Europe’s SDCI provider, customers connecting to Oracle EU Sovereign Cloud will have access to unrivalled cloud connectivity capabilities, flexibility and regulatory expertise, helping them navigate the complexity of modern cloud environments and multi-cloud arrangements, while embracing new technologies. Coupled with its position to be able to configure and manage end-to-end connectivity, the move ensures that the company continues to support enterprises in overcoming specific challenges across a wide range of industries and markets. Oracle EU Sovereign Cloud offers additional advantages to customers compared to the commercial public cloud. The same applications and workloads can run in it as in the public cloud, but additional features ensure meeting EU data privacy requirements, while maintaining both physical and logical isolation from non-EU cloud regions. Mourad Elmalki, CISO at InterCloud, says, “Privacy, security and control over where data is located are some of the most significant concerns for businesses and governments when it comes to adopting cloud technology. These concerns are particularly pressing given the growing prevalence of multi-cloud arrangements. “One of the key features of the InterCloud platform is that it enables organisations to choose where their data will be transiting, and can apply encryption if necessary. This means organisations can ensure data remains within specific geographic frameworks depending on individual needs. Additionally, the InterCloud solution is designed with robust security measures in place to protect data from unauthorised access or breaches. “We’re glad to be providing Oracle EU Sovereign Cloud availability as part of the InterCloud offering, and believe it will be important in helping grow our business further in the future.”

Colt launches multicast data in the cloud for capital markets

Colt Technology Services has announced the global availability of Colt Market Data in the Cloud with Amazon Web Services (AWS). The service solves a complex challenge for exchanges, prime brokers, trading firms, market data vendors and technology providers - by hosting and distributing multicast data in the cloud without the need for conversion software. Now capital markets can experience the benefits of cloud, without being held back by cloud service providers’ inability to support critical applications. The launch follows a successful Proof of Concept announced by Colt and AWS in October 2022, which saw the companies build virtual distribution Points of Presence (PoPs) in the AWS Cloud. Colt provides market data feeds for equities, derivatives, commodities and FX from more than 80 exchanges and liquidity venues worldwide. Securely sending this market data to multiple parties simultaneously is a key requirement for financial exchanges, but getting this data to clients’ cloud environments is complex. Existing solutions typically require conversion software to change data from multicast to unicast, adding cost and complexity as organisations rewrite and retest applications. As more and more capital market firms migrate to the cloud, the problem becomes widespread. Colt Market Data in the Cloud solves this, enabling organisations to securely host and distribute raw multicast data directly to their customers’ cloud environments in its original format, ensuring seamless integration with applications, facilitating faster times to market and improving the client experience. At the same time, organisations benefit from end-to-end market data monitoring: the company monitors data at the source, within the exchange colocation; in transit, as it moves through the network; and within the virtual Point of Presence.   The launch supports the financial market’s transition to on-demand services and automation of real-time raw data and trading applications.