Embracing the cloud can be a transformational shift in the way IT services are delivered to the business, bringing with it benefits around agility of applications and having IT that is customized to the needs of the business. But getting to that optimum point in is about more than what virtualization technology will be used or what public cloud provider will be hired. It's about having the processes in place to executive the strategy effectively, Bittman says.
Cloud storage and cloud computing specialist Data Storage Corp. announced it has acquired 80 percent of the outstanding shares of Toronto-based e-ternity Business Continuity Consultants, which provides Web-based business continuance services using cloud computing technologies.
"The acquisition of e-ternity and its core cloud computing offering is an ideal complement to Data Storage Corporation's hosted data protection services," Chuck Piluso, chairman and CEO at Data Storage said in a prepared statement. "When finalized, this acquisition is expected to immediately contribute to the continued growth of our business by providing us with greater access to the IaaS market, one growing at an estimated CAGR [compound annual growth rate] of 52 percent while building upon our Safedata Asset acquisition which established our position in the IBM market.”
In May, Data Storage announced the completion of phase one and two of its three-phased expansion plan for its Waltham, Mass.-based data center facility, with the additional installation of IBM’s iSeries High Availability and Disaster Recovery server hardware, as well as the new IBM iSeries Hosted Cloud solution. The company also expanded its cloud-based off-site storage and data vaulting capabilities, a market expected to surpass $7.2 billion in spending by 2014, according to recent research from IT analytics firm IDC.
I find these stories about cloud-based BCDR fascinating. On one hand, it’s something the cloud does exceptionally well (depending on the kind of service contracts you’re looking for). On the other hand, the related “Storage as a Service” that has so much additional potential, seems to have the best traction for end users (basic DropBox / Sugarsync / Drive type capabilities) and this kind of BCDR. Other use cases involving more direct utilization (i.e. production), unless you have the capacity requirements of Netflix, have proven too expensive and are riddled with embarrasing hacked security incidents that have culminated in a stigma. It’s a bit counter-intuitive that stakeholders are trusting the cloud for BCDR but not for production services.
JP:
Jeff: 10 Hot Big Data Startups to look out for
2012 is the year of big data. We will be discussing strong new companies in the big data space in regard to their offering, how they compare to each other and existing big data companies. We will also discuss the company’s approach to big data and potential that these companies brings to bear.
