Alibaba aims to become as cloud computing king in 2018

China’s Alibaba targets data centres in bid to replace Amazon as cloud computing king by 2018, Alibaba aims to invest in data centres in Asia, Dubai and parts of Europe over the next 18 months. Aliyun, Alibaba’s cloud computing unit, will establish data centres in Asian countries such as India and Japan, parts of the Middle East and Europe over the next 18 months, Aliyun president Simon Hu said on Wednesday. “The cloud business will be a very important sector for Alibaba,” Hu said in Beijing. “We hope to match or even surpass Amazon in three to four years.” Aliyun collaborates with about 200 partner companies on data management and cloud computing services but hopes to grow this number to 2,000 by 2018, it said. Hu also unveiled Aliyun’s data protection pact. He said customers could be assured of “absolute ownership” of their data, adding that Aliyun would not manipulate or transfer their cloud-based data. The company said it analyses over 100 terabytes of information daily to check for security threats like malware. However, it failed to address the sensitive issue of how it would respond to data requests from the Chinese government. Alibaba’s latest quarterly earnings showed its cloud revenue stood at US$63 million, an 82 per cent increase from the same time last year. Last month, Alibaba signed deals with seven firms so Aliyun can use their data centres to offer its cloud services abroad. Partners of the Marketplace Alliance Programme (MAP) include Intel, American data centre company Equinix and Hong Kong telecoms player PCCW. It is also due to build a technology hub, including a data centre, in Dubai with Dubai-based real estate company Meraas Holding after the two formed a joint venture in May aimed partly at bolstering the emirate’s influence in the region. This gives the Chinese company an edge in the region, which remains largely untapped by its American cloud computing rivals Microsoft, Google and Amazon. Source: >>

Top 10 Posts to Read on IBM Blog

10. IBM and Box link up to integrate enterprise cloud offerings 9. Can cloud-based security services protect your business better than your own IT  department? 8. IBM acquires StrongLoop, helping clients extend their enterprise reach 7. IBM intros Watson Health Cloud for Life Sciences Compliance 6. Bare metal vs. virtual servers: Which choice is right for you? 5. Why the hybrid cloud is imperative for business 4. Go ahead, invite shadow IT to the party. Here’s how. 3. How does private cloud stack up versus public cloud? 2. Cloud through the ages: 1950s to present day 1. Top 5 uses of cloud computing for 2015

DevOpsGuys G-Cloud success

"DevOpsGuys has continued its G-Cloud success with a range of cloud services available on the latest G-Cloud Framework – G-Cloud 7. "G-Cloud is a government initiative that provides public sector organisations with a single source of cloud-based services via an online marketplace.  It is designed to save public sector organisations and suppliers the time and cost traditionally associated with individual procurement contracts. "DevOpsGuys has a wealth of experience in working within the public sector, enabling and supporting clients through their digital transformation journey.  Imperative to supporting and delivering critical services is the underlying performance of its cloud services, to which DevOpsGuys have added and made enhancements to its portfolio. DevOpsGuys has been approved to supply under Lot 1: Infrastructure as a Service, (IaaS); Lot 3: Software as a Service (SaaS) and Lot 4: Specialist Cloud Services (SCS). "James Smith, CEO of DevOpsGuys said 'We are delighted to be reaffirmed as a G-Cloud supplier on this latest iteration; G-Cloud 7, and welcome the opportunity to continue the great work we are doing with public sector organisations.' "Since its inception in March 2012, public sector spending through G-Cloud has reached more than £800m with sales in 2015 rising by more than 80%, up from £447m in 2014.  The significant growth is in line with the prioritisation of cloud computing within central government." Source>>

What Does 2015 Taught Us About Cloud?

IBM blog "Thoughts On Cloud", published an article on "5 things 2015 taught us about cloud". 1. Containers are here to stay. Our first question sought to get the crowd’s opinion on the year’s biggest story. The consensus? Containers. While enterprises were beginning to test containers around this time last year, their usage is now ubiquitous across leading organizations and enterprises. 2. Next year may (finally) be the year of hybrid cloud. It seems like every year for the past few years someone has declared it “The Year of Hybrid Cloud.” But are we really there? Has a hybrid approach become the norm? Are we well past “The Year of Hybrid Cloud,” or is it yet to come? 3. Cloud has evolved from a data security concern to a data security solution. This year, the tech world witnessed some of the most highly publicized data breaches in history, but the cloud is rarely to blame, according to McGee. “Interestingly, most of the high profile security breaches involved internal non-cloud IT problems,” he wrote. “Enterprises are starting look to cloud to help with security given the rigorous processes and standardized environments.” 4. Open source foundations taught us that we all get along after all. In the open technology space, 2015 saw the growth and increased adoption of OpenStack and Cloud Foundry. It also saw the formation of the Cloud Native Computing Foundation and the Open Container Initiative, among others. Most recently, an open source Swift programming language was announced to developers’ delight. 5. More is expected of developers than ever before—and they’re delivering. For many organizations, it’s not enough for developers to simply write code for an application (or part of an application) and be done with it. Developers are increasingly being asked to understand the full stack—and at least have a working knowledge of cloud computing. Read more on >> Thoughts on Cloud (IBM)

Future of Cloud Computing: Is IT Dead?

AWS Announces New Office in Istanbul/Turkey

Amazon Web Services Turkey has announced that it has opened an office to support the rapid adoption of cloud computing in the country. “The office is now open and operational in Istanbul and is supporting businesses of all sizes, from start-ups to some of the country’s oldest and most established enterprises, as Turkish organizations make the transition to the AWS cloud,” said a press release issued on Dec. 3.  The AWS, owned by web giant Amazon.com, offers a fully featured technology infrastructure platform in the cloud comprised of a broad set of compute, storage, database, analytics, application, and deployment services from data center locations, according to the press release.  “Turkish organizations were amongst the earliest adopters of cloud services when AWS launched in 2006. Customers based in Turkey are now using AWS to run everything from development and test environments to Big Data analytics, from mobile, web and social applications to enterprise business applications and mission critical workloads. AWS now counts some of Turkey’s most well-known and fastest growing businesses as customers including, Peak Games, Yemeksepeti and Siberalem.com as well as some of the largest companies in the world, such as Digitürk, Arçelik, Vestel Elektronik, Pegasus Airlines, MetGlobal and Türk Telekom,” the press release stated.  “Turkish companies have been innovating on AWS for nearly a decade and are using the cloud to accelerate time to market and expand their businesses to reach customers around the world,” said Murat Yanar, AWS Turkey Country Manager of Amazon Web Services.  “The decision to open an AWS office in Turkey speaks to the rapidly growing customer base, the broad set of talent here and the investment we are making to support cloud adoption in the country. We are excited to work with even more Turkish companies to help them drive innovation within their organizations while maintaining industry-leading levels of reliability, privacy, and security,” Yanar added. Source:

Microsoft Ventures in India announced the launch of “JumpStart”

"Microsoft Ventures in India" announced the launch of “JumpStart,” a hotline to provide startups and entrepreneurs with a resource to ask business and technical questions. Open during business hours Monday-Friday (9am to 5pm IST), a team of dedicated professionals will be available to answer questions at 1 (800) 200-2114, a toll free number across India.  “Microsoft Ventures supports startups at every stage of maturity by providing them with the tools, resources and expertise they need to succeed,” said Joseph Landes, General Manager, Developer & Platform Evangelism, Microsoft India. “Our experience has shown that a major pain point for startups across the ecosystem in India, irrespective of their stage of maturity, is the lack of real-time support for various critical queries they face. JumpStart fills a major gap and ensures that startups get professional advice that enables them to make smart business decisions,” said Landes.  JumpStart will be staffed by dedicated professionals who have been trained by Microsoft to answer business and technical queries. Microsoft will apply the learnings from these calls to fine tune the Microsoft Ventures program, including the India Accelerator, to make it more impactful for its recipients.  JumpStart is widely welcomed by the government and industry leaders throughout India. Congratulating Microsoft, Srivatsa Krishna, IAS, Secretary, IT, Biotechnology, Science & Technology and Secretary, E-Governance, Government of Karnataka, who was present at the launch, said: “So many great ideas are born every day. While some are nurtured by the industry, many face a short lifespan because they go unnoticed and end up making wrong decisions due to lack of proper guidance or information. By availing this critical support through JumpStart, startups will have the opportunity to be heard and have access to informed decision-making support, a critical component in their journey. We are delighted that this service will also be available shortly through the Karnataka MobileOne Platform, our new mobile governance system.”  Explaining the importance of this service, Kattayil Rajinish Menon, Director, Microsoft Ventures in India, who is responsible for community and ecosystem engagement, said: “Sometimes answering even simple questions about how to get started or which service provider to contact can really help startups avoid delays and cost overruns. While JumpStart cannot promise the success of a startup’s business, it can definitely help by educating entrepreneurs how to get started quickly by providing information on the vast resources available today.”  Along with several startups, the event was attended by industry stalwarts, including Ravi Gururaj, Chair, Nasscom Product Council. Gururaj, who has been associated with Microsoft Ventures since its inception in India, said: “Product companies and startups are the next growth engines for the Indian industry and we at Nasscom are working on several initiatives to promote this sector. Microsoft Ventures has been a great supporter of our initiatives, and has partnered with us on several of them. I am very happy that Microsoft Ventures has identified this challenge that startups face, and taken concrete steps to address it, through JumpStart. It is an excellent initiative to get some support and start off quickly and efficiently. I urge everyone to take advantage of this facility.” Source >>