WebProNews

Category: MultiCloudPro

  • IBM Stock Was the Real Winner Among Big Tech in 2022

    IBM Stock Was the Real Winner Among Big Tech in 2022

    IBM may fly under radar, compared to its Big Tech rivals, but Big Blue was the real winner in 2022.

    2022 was not a good year for the tech industry. Despite flying high during the pandemic, an economic downturn has taken its toll, resulting in slower growth and mass layoffs.

    According to CNBC, however, IBM is the exception to the rule. The company is one of only two among companies valued at $50 billion or more whose stock is up over the course of 2022. The other one is VMware, although its stock is only up because of its deal to be purchased by Broadcom.

    Read more: IBM Beats Expectations on Strong Hybrid Cloud Results

    IBM’s stock, which is up 6%, appears to be benefiting from the company’s long-term strategy which has reassured investors. The company has reinvented itself as a hybrid cloud provider and formed close ties with its larger cloud rivals, such as Microsoft and AWS.

    As a result of the company’s strategy, Bernstein Research analysts say IBM is “trading well above its historical range.”

    “Given its defensive characteristics and historical performance, we believe that IBM is likely to fare well if we continue to have pressured markets, and likely to lag major indices if we enter a recovery period,” they continued.

    IBM is once again proving its ability to adapt to changing circumstances and stay relevant when many younger, more “nimble” companies struggle to keep up.

  • Pentagon Awards Cloud Contracts to Multiple Vendors for JEDI Successor (Updated)

    Pentagon Awards Cloud Contracts to Multiple Vendors for JEDI Successor (Updated)

    The Pentagon has awarded contracts to multiple cloud vendors as it seeks to replace the defunct JEDI contract.

    The Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) contact was the Pentagon’s attempt to modernize its IT operations and migrate to the cloud. AWS was largely seen as the frontrunner until Microsoft was awarded the entire $10 billion contract. AWS responded by suing the Pentagon relentlessly until the DoD canceled the contract in favor of the $9 billion multi-vendor Joint Warfighter Cloud Capability (JWCC).

    “The purpose of this contract is to provide the Department of Defense with enterprise-wide, globally available cloud services across all security domains and classification levels, from the strategic level to the tactical edge,” the DoD writes in the award notices. “The Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability will allow mission owners to acquire authorized commercial cloud offerings directly from the Cloud Service Providers contract awardees. Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability is a multiple award contract.”

    The multi-vendor contract was awarded to AWS, Google Cloud, Microsoft, and Oracle. Rather than define the share of the contract each company will receive, each company is part of the same $9 billion pool and will receive funds as their services are needed.

    “No funds will be obligated at the time of award; funds will be obligated on individual orders as they are issued,” the DoD continues.

    Only time will tell if all four cloud players, especially AWS, accept the terms or resort to lawsuits in an effort to secure more favorable terms.

    Update: Amazon has reached out to WPN with the following statement:

    “We are honored to have been selected for the Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability contract and look forward to continuing our support for the Department of Defense. From the enterprise to the tactical edge, we are ready to deliver industry-leading cloud services to enable the DoD to achieve its critical mission.”

  • Oracle Opens New Region for Oracle Interconnect for Microsoft Azure in South Africa

    Oracle Opens New Region for Oracle Interconnect for Microsoft Azure in South Africa

    Oracle is expanding its Oracle Interconnect for Microsoft Azure, opening a new region in Johannesburg, South Africa.

    Oracle Interconnect for Microsoft Azure allows customers to integrate and use the two cloud platforms, making it an ideal option for hybrid cloud deployments. The new region will allow customers throughout Africa to use Oracle Database Service for Microsoft Azure.

    “Our longstanding collaboration with Microsoft Azure gives our joint customers the flexibility and choice to innovate using the best of both our clouds. With growing customer demand for multicloud capabilities across Africa, we look forward to helping Microsoft Azure customers migrate their workloads to the cloud without the need for complicated re-platforming, while giving them seamless access to Oracle Database services on OCI,” said Nick Redshaw, senior vice president, Technology Cloud, Middle East and Africa, Oracle.

    “Microsoft and Oracle share a long-standing history of delivering excellence on behalf of our mutual customers and supporting their evolving needs,” said Colin Erasmus, COO, Microsoft South Africa. “Expanding the Oracle Interconnect for Microsoft Azure to Johannesburg ensures our valued customers in this region can benefit from the choice to deploy multicloud solutions.”

    Oracle emphasized the benefits of a multicloud approach.

    With Oracle Interconnect for Microsoft Azure, customers in Africa can now migrate and run mission-critical enterprise workloads across their Azure and OCI environments with a private, dedicated low-latency connection and identity federation. Customers also receive a collaborative, comprehensive service support model. Pricing is port-based with no additional charges for bandwidth consumed.

  • Oracle Brings MySQL HeatWave to AWS

    Oracle Brings MySQL HeatWave to AWS

    Oracle has brought its MySQL HeatWave to AWS in an effort to help customers keep costs down and benefit from Oracle’s services.

    MySQL HeatWave is billed as “the only service that combines OLTP, analytics, machine learning, and machine learning-based automation within a single MySQL database.” Oracle found many of its customers came from AWS, or are running a multi-cloud setup and want to keep costs down.

    “Oracle believes in giving customers a choice. Many of our MySQL HeatWave customers migrated from AWS. Others wish to continue running parts of their application on AWS. Those customers face serious challenges including exorbitant data egress fees charged by AWS and higher latency when accessing a database service running in Oracle’s cloud,” said Edward Screven, chief corporate architect, Oracle. “We are addressing these issues while delivering outstanding performance and price performance across transaction, analytics, and machine learning compared to other database cloud providers—even Amazon’s own databases running on AWS, where you’d think they would have an advantage. We wanted to offer AWS customers this choice to benefit from MySQL HeatWave innovation without moving their data from AWS, or developers needing to learn a new platform.”

    Oracle is positioning MySQL HeatWave as a multi-cloud option, with support for OCI and AWS, as well as plans to support Microsoft Azure in the near future. Oracle also provides the service for on-premise customers via Oracle Dedicated Region Cloud@Customer.

    “While AWS offers a smorgasbord of cloud database services specialized for each data type and capability, MySQL HeatWave on AWS follows Oracle’s converged database strategy—offering transaction, analytics, ML, and Autopilot automation all in one. For AWS users, this means no charges for add-on services, extra storage, data egress fees, connectors, and more. For cost conscious IT teams and developers, MySQL HeatWave on AWS represents a whole new TCO calculation with zero cost for what are add-on services on AWS and no data egress fees,” said Marc Staimer, senior analyst, Wikibon. “And just as Usain Bolt left all of his competitors in the dust and set new world records that have yet to be broken, the latest price performance benchmark results demonstrate that MySQL HeatWave on AWS is 7X better than Amazon Redshift. If you follow the money, the choice is easy.”

  • Google Cloud Exec Fires Back at Microsoft’s Cloud Licensing Terms

    Google Cloud Exec Fires Back at Microsoft’s Cloud Licensing Terms

    A Google Cloud exec is firing back at Microsoft’s cloud computing licensing changes, accusing the company of not ‘addressing core customer concerns.’

    Microsoft drew the ire of smaller EU cloud providers over terms that made it more expensive for Office 365 customers to use third-party cloud providers, rather than Microsoft’s Azure. The company outlined its plans to address the complaints and work to more fairly treat its smaller competitors earlier this week.

    Despite Microsoft’s efforts to allay concerns, its rivals are not convinced, with Google Cloud Vice President of Government Affairs and Policy Marcus Jadotte slamming Microsoft’s announcement:

    Jadotte contrasted Microsoft’s approach with Google’s, with the latter focused on openness and a multi-cloud approach:

    Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian has made no secret of his desire to move from third-place to second-place in the cloud market. As part of that goal, Google has been positioning itself as a multi-cloud provider.

    It remains to be seen if Microsoft’s actions will be enough to prevent a regulatory response from the EU, but it certainly hasn’t won any praise from its biggest competitors.

  • ServiceNow CEO Says Cloud Computing Is Century’s ‘Pervasive Computing Theme’

    ServiceNow CEO Says Cloud Computing Is Century’s ‘Pervasive Computing Theme’

    ServiceNow CEO Bill McDermott has called cloud computing the “pervasive computing theme of the 21st century.”

    The cloud computing market is experiencing major growth, due in no small part to the pandemic and the rise of hybrid work. All three of the top providers are experiencing major growth, with no signs of it slowing down. According to McDermott, cloud computing’s success is because of its “pervasive” and transformative nature.

    “It simplifies everything. Everything’s on the mobile. Everything’s beautiful and easy to use,” McDermott told Yahoo Finance.

    “It’s one platform that can single thread business across an entire enterprise, all functions of the business. So, it is a great unifier in a sense, because some people have very powerful Chief Information Officers, others have Chief Digital Officers, others have Chief People officers, others have these wonderful data managers,” McDermott added. “But to have one platform, that single thread, all of those powerful relationships to deliver great experiences is super exciting to us.”

    While the economic downturn has many companies hedging their bets and cutting costs, McDermott believes the cloud computing market can continue growing, buoyed by companies’ digital first strategies.

    “Ninety-five percent of CEOs have a digital first strategy. So, they’re leaning in to digital transformation. Because it’s the only way out. On one hand, it’s software as the great deflationary force,” McDermott said. “On another hand, if you can’t transform and recreate your business model, and innovate digitally, you lose the game. So, CEOs are very well aware of this. So, that tailwind is super strong.”

    McDermott’s predictions are good news for the cloud market and underscore the opportunities available to cloud providers.

  • Microsoft Organizing Cloud Vendors to Take On Amazon’s Government Dominance

    Microsoft Organizing Cloud Vendors to Take On Amazon’s Government Dominance

    Microsoft is working to put a dent in Amazon’s dominance in the government agency cloud computing space, organizing its rivals to help.

    Amazon’s AWS is the leading cloud provider platform, both in the private sector as well as the public. Microsoft is its largest rival, and the company is working on getting other companies to help lobby against Amazon’s dominance, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.

    Microsoft has been sharing talking points with cloud providers Google and Oracle, as well as IBM, VMware, Dell, and HP Enterprise. The talking points are aimed at lobbying Washington to require a multi-vendor approach for large cloud contracts. According to WSJ’s sources, Microsoft has not included Amazon in its efforts.

    Read more: Microsoft Azure Is a Major Threat to AWS

    There’s certainly no love lost between Amazon and Microsoft, especially in their battle for the cloud market. Microsoft famously scored the Pentagon’s JEDI contract, worth some $10 billion, only to have Amazon relentlessly challenge the win in court until the Department of Defense was forced to abandon the contract in an effort to move forward with its cloud transition.

    Not long after, AWS won a $10 billion contract to provide cloud services to the National Security Agency. Microsoft challenged that contract award but was unsuccessful in overturning the results.

    More recently, an AWS exec took Microsoft to task over its cloud licensing terms, accusing the company of not putting customers’ needs first and engaging in anti-competitive behavior.

    It appears the rivalry between Microsoft and AWS is picking up steam with no end in sight. If Microsoft is successful in rallying the smaller cloud providers to its cause, it could represent the single biggest threat that AWS has ever faced.

  • Microsoft and Oracle Partner to Integrate Azure and Oracle Cloud

    Microsoft and Oracle Partner to Integrate Azure and Oracle Cloud

    Microsoft and Oracle are partnering to integrate their cloud platforms, providing customers with a powerful multicloud option.

    Oracle and Microsoft have announced Oracle Database Service for Microsoft Azure, a way for Azure customers to easily access Oracle Database services in Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI). The new service builds on a partnership dating back to 2019.

    “Microsoft and Oracle have a long history of working together to support the needs of our joint customers, and this partnership is an example of how we offer customer choice and flexibility as they digitally transform with cloud technology. Oracle’s decision to select Microsoft as its preferred partner deepens the relationship between our two companies and provides customers with the assurance of working with two industry leaders,” said Corey Sanders, corporate vice president, Microsoft Cloud for Industry and Global Expansion.

    The service will allow customers to connect their Azure subscription to OCI. The service will automatically configure everything necessary to integrate the two platforms, providing a familiar Oracle Database Services dashboard combined with Azure terminology and the benefit of Azure Application Insights monitoring.

    “There’s a well-known myth that you can’t run real applications across two clouds. We can now dispel that myth as we give Oracle and Microsoft customers the ability to easily test and demonstrate the value of combining Oracle databases with Azure applications. There is no need for deep skills on either of our platforms or complex configurations—anyone can use the Azure Portal to harness the power of our two clouds together,” said Clay Magouyrk, executive vice president, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure.

    The partnership between Microsoft and Oracle should help both companies leverage their respective benefits in their quest to gain more of the cloud market.

  • DevOps Organizations Are Increasingly Turning to Alternate Cloud Providers

    DevOps Organizations Are Increasingly Turning to Alternate Cloud Providers

    A new report on the DevOps industry should be a concern for the top three cloud providers, showing that organizations are increasingly looking for alternate providers.

    AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud dominate the industry, accounting for a 71% share of the market. Similarly, the three companies account for 65% of all cloud spending. Nonetheless, it appears some organizations are looking to support smaller, independent rivals.

    A new report, commissioned by Linode and conducted by Techstrong Research, shows that despite 93% of respondents using one of the Big Three, two-thirds would consider an alternative.

    The largest three hyperscalers (Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Compute) are used by 93% of respondents. Yet many DevOps buyers are re-thinking a reflex default to these hyperscalers. Two-thirds of companies surveyed would consider bringing in an “alternative” CSP; almost 22% have already done so. In fact, the combined market share for the top alternative vendors is fourth in the category, just behind Microsoft and Google.

    Even more troubling for the Big Three is the growing interest in alternative providers, as well as the reasons that interest is growing.

    Interest and adoption is highest in small and medium organizations (fewer than 10,000 employees). Main reasons for bringing in a new vendor include reducing reliance on a single provider, improving price performance and ease of use, and better data protection.

    Another growing concern is competition from a company’s cloud service provider (CSP). Each of the Big Three are part of larger companies that offer a wide array of products and services, many of which can compete with the products and services of their cloud customers.

    More than 50% of DevOps professionals and leaders surveyed say their CSP is already a competitor to their B2B or B2C business or is expected to become one. Fear of IP loss and rapid market displacement is also evidenced in respondent’s strong stated desire to work with a trustworthy, capable provider who shares their company values.

    Needless to say, the Big Three hold a commanding position in the market, and it will be a long time before they face a serious challenge. Nonetheless, the report should be a cause for concern and highlights areas where they must improve in order to keep their customers happy.

  • US Air Force Moving Ahead With Its Own Cloud Platform, Not Waiting for DOD

    US Air Force Moving Ahead With Its Own Cloud Platform, Not Waiting for DOD

    The US Air Force is moving ahead with its cloud plans rather than waiting on the Department of Defense’s (DOD) Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability (JWCC) contract.

    JWCC is the successor to the doomed $10 billion Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) contract that was initially awarded to Microsoft. AWS challenged the award and kept it tied up in court for so long that the DOD ultimately abandoned it in favor of the multi-vendor JWCC. The DOD is currently seeking bids from AWS, Google, Microsoft, and Oracle.

    The Air Force has decided it doesn’t want to wait for the DOD and risk another delay. The military branch is instead moving forward with its own Cloud One endeavor.

    “The short story is we’re not waiting, we haven’t waited, we will continue to not wait for anybody else to come and provide us with capability,” Air Force CIO Lauren Knausenberger told FedScoop. “We’re moving forward, we’re moving out, we’re continuing to improve” Cloud One, she added.

    Knausenberger went on to call Cloud One the “world’s largest cloud instantiation for any commercial or government entity.”

    The Air Force tapped SAIC to implement its own multicloud approach, using AWS, Google, and Microsoft’s cloud platforms. While the DOD is continuing to pursue the $9 billion JWCC contract, Knausenberger doesn’t see a conflict with Cloud One. In fact, if JWCC becomes a reality, she believes it may offer “better pricing on compute” and ultimately complement Cloud One.

    “And if it does, we’ll still use our Cloud One as a front door and we will purchase that compute via JWCC,” she added.

  • FedEx Moving to ‘Zero Data Center, Zero Mainframe Environment’ by 2024

    FedEx Moving to ‘Zero Data Center, Zero Mainframe Environment’ by 2024

    FedEx is preparing to shut down its data centers and mainframes, opting for cloud-native solutions instead.

    Company CIO Rob Carter made the announcement at the FedEx investor day, according to DCD, saying the company will save some $400 million.

    “We’ve been working across this decade to streamline and simplify our technology and systems,” he said. “We’ve shifted to cloud…we’ve been eliminating monolithic applications one after the other after the other…we’re moving to a zero data center, zero mainframe environment that’s more flexible, secure, and cost-effective.”

    “Within the next two years we’ll close the last few remaining data centers that we have, we’ll eliminate the final 20 percent of the mainframe footprint, and we’ll move the remaining applications to cloud-native structures that allow them to be flexibly deployed and used in the marketplace and business. While we’re doing this, we’ll achieve $400 million of annual savings.”

    FedEx currently uses both Microsoft Azure and Oracle Cloud for its cloud needs. Nothing was said about whether the company will go all-in on a single vendor or whether it will continue its multicloud approach.

  • AWS, Microsoft, and Google Account for More Than Two-Thirds of the Cloud Market

    AWS, Microsoft, and Google Account for More Than Two-Thirds of the Cloud Market

    According to new research, the top three cloud providers are extending their lead in the market, accounting for 65% of total cloud spending.

    AWS is currently the market leader, although Microsoft Azure has been making significant gains, and Google Cloud has been establishing itself as a multi-cloud provider. While the overall market continues to grow at a whopping 34%, these three providers account for 71% of the cloud market share, according to Synergy Research Group.

    As the cloud market has grown, the top three providers’ share of cloud market spending has grown as well. In the first quarter of 2022, global cloud spending was $52.7 billion, with the top three raking in 65% of that. In contrast, several years ago, the top three accounted for 52% of global cloud spending, demonstrating their growing dominance in the market.

    According to Synergy, smaller companies will need to differentiate themselves by targeting niche markets in order to remain competitive.

    “While the level of competition remains high, the huge and rapidly growing cloud market continues to coalesce around Amazon, Microsoft and Google,” said John Dinsdale, a Chief Analyst at Synergy Research Group. “Aside from the Chinese market, which remains totally dominated by local Chinese companies, other cloud providers simply cannot match the scale and geographic reach of the big three market leaders. As Amazon, Microsoft and Google continue to grow at 35-50% per year, other non-Chinese cloud providers are typically growing in the 10-20% range. That can still be an attractive proposition for those smaller providers, as long as they focus on regional or service niches where they can differentiate themselves from the big three.”

  • IBM and AWS Collaborate to Deliver IBM Software as-a-Service

    IBM and AWS Collaborate to Deliver IBM Software as-a-Service

    IBM and AWS have signed a collaboration agreement to provide IBM’s significant software catalog as Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) on AWS.

    AWS is the leading cloud provider in the world and, while not cracking the top three, IBM is nonetheless a significant player. The company recently announced its intentions to split, with the core of the company focused on hybrid cloud offerings. While they may be competitors, that isn’t stopping the two companies from working together to provide IBM’s breath of software and tools on the AWS platform.

    The agreement will cover IBM’s software for AI, automation, data, security, and sustainable capabilities. The solution is cloud-native on AWS, and is built on Red Hat OpenShift Service on AWS (ROSA).

    The two companies have also agreed to work together on “a broad range of joint investments,” all with the goal of making it easier for customers to use IBM solutions on AWS.

    “As hybrid cloud continues to become the reality for our clients, IBM is ready and willing to meet them with a flexible and cloud-native software portfolio wherever they are in the cloud or in data centers,” said Tom Rosamilia, Senior Vice President, IBM Software. “By deepening our collaboration with AWS, we’re taking another major step in giving organizations the ability to choose the hybrid cloud model that works best for their own needs and workloads, freeing them up to instead focus on solving their most pressing business challenges.”

    “Our collaboration with IBM allows joint customers to accelerate their modernization to the cloud and consume IBM services in a cloud native manner on AWS,” said Matt Garman, Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing at AWS. “Through our multiyear agreement, AWS will work with IBM to offer a broad array of IBM Software as SaaS on AWS. In addition, we’ll be working together on stronger joint marketing and co-selling programs for customers.”

  • Rackspace May Sell Off Some of Its Business

    Rackspace May Sell Off Some of Its Business

    Rackspace may sell off some of its business as the company looks to ‘sharpen its focus’ on its cloud business.

    Rackspace has been pivoting its business, rolling out services aimed at helping customers migrate to the cloud and take advantage of multicloud offerings. The company now believes it may have some businesses it can offload, ones that don’t necessarily align with its overall goals, according to San Antonio Express News.

    “We concluded that a sum of the parts of Rackspace Technology could be greater than our current enterprise value,” CEO Kevin Jones said in a statement. “Accordingly, we are evaluating strategic alternatives and options.”

    “The market has evolved, and it’s evolved pretty rapidly in the last 18 to 24 months,” he continued. “We have a public cloud business that is significantly scaled from 18 months ago. We’ve been proactively evaluating all of our strategic options to take advantage of the public cloud market opportunity and sharpen our focus.”

    The company has been posting solid growth, with its latest quarter being the tenth consecutive quarter of revenue growth. The company posted a loss of $38.5 million on $775.5 million in revenue. While a loss, it was significantly better than the $64 million the company lost on $725.9 million in revenue in the year-ago quarter.

    Jones remained bullish on the company’s outlook:

    “While there are near-term headwinds in the economy, such as supply chain disruption and the war in Ukraine, we do not see any recessionary pressure in this business,” he said, later adding: “Cloud is only accelerating, even in the economic environment we’ve seen so far this year.”

  • Boeing Goes Multicloud, Choosing Top Three Providers

    Boeing Goes Multicloud, Choosing Top Three Providers

    Boeing is increasing its investment in its cloud infrastructure, tapping the top three providers for a multicloud approach.

    AWS, Microsoft, and Google Cloud are the top three players in the cloud market, and it appears Boeing wants to work with all of them, rather than going all-in on a single one. The company “announced a significant investment” today, expanding its existing relationships with each of the companies.

    “These partnerships will strengthen our ability to test a system – or an aircraft – hundreds of times using digital twin technology before it is deployed,” said Susan Doniz, Boeing chief information officer and senior vice president of Information Technology & Data Analytics. “Our partners will help Boeing take advantage of the best the industry has to offer while enabling employees to tap into leading tools, training and experts to improve skills and learn new ones.”

    While many companies choose to build their business around a single cloud provider, many experts believe multicloud deployments are the future of the industry, and offer the best combination of reliability and scalability.

    Boeing seems to agree, citing their belief that a multicloud approach is critical to the company’s success and sustainability.

    “No one company or industry can ensure a sustainable future alone,” said Boeing Chief Sustainability Officer Chris Raymond. “We’re grateful to partner with technology leaders like AWS, Google, and Microsoft, who share our commitment to reducing carbon emissions.”

  • Microsoft Taking Platform Agnostic Approach to Cloud Security

    Microsoft Taking Platform Agnostic Approach to Cloud Security

    Microsoft has signaled it wants to provide security for cloud-based companies in general, regardless of whether they use Azure, AWS, or Google Cloud.

    Microsoft is a far different company under Satya Nadella than it was under Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer. Instead of ruthlessly protecting and pushing its own operating systems and platforms, the company has shifted to the cloud, with a focus on providing the best applications and services on a variety of systems and platforms.

    The company is now extending that philosophy to cloud security, with its latest update to Microsoft Defender for Cloud. Formerly known as Azure Defender, the company changed its name to better reflect its emphasis on securing multicloud environments. Microsoft has also added support for Google Cloud, roughly three months after adding support for AWS. In both cases, the company used open programming APIs to integrate Microsoft Defender with its rivals’ platforms.

    “Today most of our customers have AWS and they have Azure and they have Google Cloud and they have different workloads around and then they have security solutions which are native to each of these,” Vasu Jakkal, CVP Microsoft Security, Compliance, Identity & Privacy told Bloomberg in an interview. “Think about the security practitioners sitting in a Security Operations Center looking at these alerts in this pane of glass — they’re dealing with three if not more.”

    This is not the first time Microsoft has set itself apart from its rivals. In early February, the company released its Open App Store Principles, in which it committed to behavior that is almost diametrically opposite from the manner in which Apple and Google run their app stores.

    For those who remember Microsoft of the ’90s and early 2000s, this open, enlightened Microsoft is a refreshing change, and increasingly serves as an example for the rest of the industry. Hopefully more companies will take note and imitate it.

  • In the Wake of Major Cloud Outages, Multicloud Is the Future

    In the Wake of Major Cloud Outages, Multicloud Is the Future

    Following multiple AWS outages that crippled entire sections of the internet, companies are increasingly looking to a multicloud future.

    Multicloud refers to companies relying on multiple cloud vendors rather than a single one. AWS experienced two major outages in as many weeks, bringing some of the biggest sites and services on the web to a halt.

    According to CNBC, the outages are causing companies to look more closely at multicloud options. As evidence of that is HashiCorp’s public offering, just two days after the AWS outage. HashiCorp helps companies utilize multiple clouds. In just its second day of trading, the company surged to a market cap of more than $15 billion.

    Critics have long warned that reliance on just a few cloud vendors could put entire industries at risk, and it appears companies are increasingly taking notice of those warnings, especially in the wake of AWS’ failures.

  • Only 17% of US Companies Encrypt Over Half of Their Cloud Data

    Only 17% of US Companies Encrypt Over Half of Their Cloud Data

    Despite a seeming endless litany of data breaches, a new report says only 17% of US companies are encrypting more than half of their cloud data.

    Data breaches have become an everyday occurrence, with company after company notifying users that their data has been exposed. More often than not, the exposure is the result of a database being left unencrypted and easily accessible via the web.

    Unfortunately, it seems that US companies are a little slow on the uptake, as the 2021 Thales Cloud Security Study shows that 83% are leaving over half of their sensitive cloud data unencrypted.

    Even more concerning, industry sectors containing sensitive information are only marginally better.

    Sectors such as financial services, transportation, and media and entertainment are only marginally better at 21% saying they encrypt more than half of their sensitive data.

    The report also found a correlation between multicloud deployments and low encryption levels. Of the organizations using multicloud environments, only 15% have encrypted more than 50% of their cloud data.

    The report emphasizes the need for companies to take action to better protect user data.

    To the extent that protecting customer data is a priority, organizations should strongly consider reviewing their strategies and approaches to proactively protect data in cloud, especially sensitive data. This includes understanding the role of specific controls and technologies including authentication, encryption and key management, as well as the shared responsibilities between providers and their customers.

    As data privacy and sovereignty regulations grow across the globe, it will be paramount for end-user organizations to have a clear understanding of how they remain responsible for data security and how they must make clear decisions about just who is in control of and who can access their sensitive data.

    The 2021 Thales Cloud Security Study gives a disturbing glimpse into how cloud-based companies are (mis)handling data and is well-worth a read.

  • Oracle Pursues Defunct JEDI Contract Review

    Oracle Pursues Defunct JEDI Contract Review

    ‘Don’t beat a dead horse’ doesn’t seem to be a phrase Oracle is familiar with, as the company continues to pursue its JEDI contract case.

    The Pentagon’s JEDI (Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure) was designed to help the Department of Defense (DoD) modernize its infrastructure using commercial cloud providers. AWS, Microsoft, IBM and Oracle were the top vendors vying for the project.

    Early on, IBM and Oracle were both eliminated. Despite AWS being the favorite, the DoD ultimately awarded the contract to Microsoft. AWS immediately sued, claiming Microsoft was awarded the contract unfairly. After a protracted legal battle, with no end in sight, the DoD ultimately withdrew Microsoft’s win and abandoned the contract.

    Despite that eventuality, and despite Oracle’s early elimination for not meeting the requirements, the company seems intent on continuing its challenge to the DoD’s initial ruling.

    Law Street Media reports that Oracle is claiming the DoD’s alleged misconduct doesn’t just end because the contract was cancelled, and could reasonably be expected to occur again with future contracts.

    Ironically, one of Oracle’s main contentions with the initial contract terms was the DoD awarding the JEDI contract to a single vendor instead of adopting a multi-vendor approach. When the DoD abandoned JEDI, it switched gears and said it will tap multiple vendors for its next attempt, the Joint Warfighter Cloud Capability (JWCC) contract. In spite of the DoD changing its approach, Oracle is still not satisfied.

    “Cases do not become moot simply because a defendant issues a press release claiming to have ceased its misconduct,” Oracle claims in a court filing.

    Again…dead horse.

  • Rackspace Elastic Engineering for Security Tackles Multicloud Security

    Rackspace Elastic Engineering for Security Tackles Multicloud Security

    Rackspace is looking to help companies tackle multicloud security with its Rackspace Elastic Engineering for Security.

    Multicloud deployments have become a popular option. In fact, a recent poll showed that, among banks and financial companies using cloud computing, 17% were using multicloud. Even more significantly, 88% were considering adopting a multicloud approach in the next 12 months.

    As a leading multicloud solutions company, Rackspace is looking to help companies transform their security operations by offering experts that will work as an extension of a client’s own staff.

    “Now more than ever it is critical for organizations to rapidly evolve and efficiently operationalize their cybersecurity capabilities,” said Gary Alterson, Rackspace Technology Vice President of Security Services. “Businesses working with multiple security providers and partners are facing a growing execution and operational management gap. With Rackspace Elastic Engineering for Security, our customers have access to a dedicated partner that has both a deep understanding of their environments and expertise in managing the end-to-end security lifecycle.”

    Rackspace Elastic Engineering for Security can help customers with everything from cloud migration to securing and managing existing apps and services. As the move to multicloud solutions increases, Rackspace’s new service is sure to be a major help to many companies.

  • Banks Adopting Cloud Computing, Trying to Mitigate Concerns

    Banks Adopting Cloud Computing, Trying to Mitigate Concerns

    The financial sector is overwhelmingly adopting cloud computing, but not without concern over the risks of doing so.

    Google, together with Harris Poll, conducted one of the most comprehensive polls of the financial sector, surveying some 1,300 leaders in the financial services industry in the US, Canada, France, Germany, the UK, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and Australia.

    A whopping 83% of companies are already using cloud computing. Interestingly, hybrid cloud was the most popular option, at 38%. Single cloud deployment came in second at 28%, and multicloud deployments came in third at 17%. Of those institutions not already using multicloud deployments, 88% were considering adopting it in the next 12 months.

    One of the biggest challenges financial institutions face are regulatory issues.

    The research also points to steps that regulators could take to provide additional clarity and guidance, such as aligning regulatory reviews across agencies to avoid fragmentation; developing regulatory “safe harbors” for cloud adopters based on adherence to accepted standards and best practices; training regulatory staff on emerging tech; and advancing data reporting requirements via cloud and related technologies.

    Similarly, security is a major factor when considering cloud computing. Many organizations once viewed security as a downside, but now see the benefits for data and IT protection. Despite this, at least one in three admitted to shortcomings in their organizations, with data and security being one of the top ones.

    “While many banks have already deployed hybrid cloud environments, others are still in various stages of planning and deploying,” said Jerry Silva, research vice president for IDC Financial Insights. “Clearly, hybrid infrastructure is a reality, and financial institutions must focus not only on leveraging the modern infrastructure model to gain efficiencies, resilience and agility, but also on taking the necessary steps to manage such environments, including the security and compliance of cloud services.”

    Google’s poll provides valuable insights into the financial sector’s transition to the cloud and is well worth a read in its entirety (PDF).