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Top 30 Cloud Service Providers Gaining Mind Share in 3Q 2010
Aug 31st
Top 30 Cloud Service Providers Gaining Mind Share
Article by: Ray DePena with Cloud Expo
Image Credit to incomingit.com
It has certainly been an exciting week in the Cloudsphere with Dell and HP battling it out over 3PAR. It’s clear who is on Dell and HP’s radar, and I’m looking forward to seeing the rest of 2010 Cloud acquisitions as the segment continues to consolidate.
Its been almost 2 quarters since the last report, though the BTC Logic team has done an excellent job in their Top Ten Cloud Companies in 2Q10 Report to pick up the slack. CRN released The 100 Coolest Cloud Computing Vendors list joining the The Top 150 Players in Cloud Computing, 85 Cloud Computing Vendors Shaping the Emerging Cloud, 50 of The Biggest and Best Cloud Computing Companies, The VAR Guy’s SaaS 20 Index, and even Congress has gotten into the Cloud game – Congress Holds Hearing on Cloud Computing.
With that M&A activity as background, here are my rankings for the Top 30 Cloud Service Providers Gaining Mind Share in 3Q 2010.
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Update – 3PAR Accepts Matching Acquisition Offer by Dell
Aug 27th
Revised Transaction Valued at Approximately $1.8 Billion
FREMONT, CA–(Marketwire – August 27, 2010) – 3PAR® (NYSE: PAR), the leading global provider of utility storage, today announced it has accepted a
matching offer to be acquired by Dell for a price of $27 per share, or approximately $1.8 billion, net of 3PAR’s cash. Accordingly, 3PAR and Dell have signed a second amendment to their previously announced merger agreement reflecting the new offer price, and maintaining the termination fee unchanged at $72 million, which is payable in the event that 3PAR receives and accepts another unsolicited acquisition proposal that its board determines to be superior to Dell’s increased offer.The cash tender offer commenced on August 23, 2010 by Dell, through a wholly-owned subsidiary, is for all outstanding shares of 3PAR common stock, without interest, and subject to reduction for any federal back-up withholding or other taxes. The offer documents will be amended to reflect the new offer price, but this will not alter the timing of the acquisition. Unless extended, the tender offer and any withdrawal rights to which 3PAR stockholders may be entitled will expire at midnight, EDT, on Sept. 20, 2010. Following acceptance for payment of shares in the tender offer and completion of the transactions contemplated in the merger agreement, 3PAR would become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Dell.
The board of directors of 3PAR continues to unanimously recommend that 3PAR stockholders accept Dell’s tender offer and tender their shares in such offer.
About 3PAR
3PAR® (NYSE: PAR) is the leading global provider of utility storage, a category of highly virtualized, dynamically tiered, multi-tenant storage arrays built for public and private cloud computing. Our virtualized storage platform was built from the ground up to be agile and efficient and to eliminate the limitations of traditional storage arrays for utility infrastructures. As a pioneer of thin provisioning and other storage virtualization technologies, we design our products to reduce power consumption to help companies meet their green computing initiatives and to cut storage total cost of ownership. 3PAR customers have used our self-managing, efficient, and adaptable utility storage systems to reduce administration time and provisioning complexity, to improve server and storage utilization, and to scale and adapt flexibly in response to continuous growth and changing business needs. For more information, visit the 3PAR Website at: www.3PAR.com.
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HP acquires data software firm Stratavia
Aug 26th
(Reuters) – Hewlett-Packard Co (HPQ.N) said on Thursday it would acquire Stratavia, a private company that makes software to manage databases and has applications in cloud computing.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
HP said in a statement that Stratavia will make HP’s Software and Solutions portfolio stronger with its software that helps support the infrastructure of “cloud computer environments.”
Stratavia, based in Denver, also helps in database automation, which makes it easier for companies to maintain servers.
Aaron Rakers, a Stifel Nicolaus & Co analyst, said Stratavia’s database warehousing software can be applied to cloud computing, and that it’s comparable to what the publicly traded company Netezza Corp (NZ.N) does.
“It looks like it’s about database warehousing, and at the end of the day it’s probably an extremely small acquisition,” he said.
HP, with $125 billion in annual revenue and over 300,000 employees, is a serial acquirer that has diversified beyond computers in recent years. It is currently engaged in a bidding war with Dell Inc (DELL.O) for the data storage company 3PAR Inc (PAR.N).
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10 Cloud Computing Startups that you may or may not have heard of…
Aug 24th
10 Cloud Computing Startups that you may or may not have heard of…
Tap In Systems
They offer Management of Your Cloud Services. This gives you control over your virtual infrastructure, automating the deployment of cloud services around 
your IT policies. Keep your applications running smoothly by monitoring all your cloud services with a single management system that is integrated with your operational processes.
WolfNetworks
WOLF is a browser based On Demand Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) for rapidly designing and delivering database driven multi-tenant Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) applications.
CloudLab
Offers Cloud Services, Hybrid and Dedicated Clouds. They make it possible for your business to benefit from cloud hosting even if security, regulatory or technical requirements have previously prevented it.
CloudSilicon
Intends to become the utility of choice for a multitude of small and medium sized businesses, delivering enterprise grade IT systems from the cloud, effectively, securely and economically.
Morphlabs’ mCloud
MorphLabs series enables the rapid deployment of the most sophisticated Cloud Delivery platforms for MSPs and Enterprise data centers. Built on industry-leading cloud standards facilitating the hybrid implementation of both public and private virtual resources, the mCloud™ series virtualizes commodity hardware while simplifying system administration and application management.
iSpaces
iSpaces provides a multi-desktop cloud operating system that is simple to you use, incredibly fast, constantly persistent and universally accessible. The beta release of iSpaces is coming out on September 15th.
8KMiles
Is an internet company that is focused on building solutions around cloud computing. 8KMiles is an Amazon System Integration partner and AWS Solution Developer. 8KMiles’ Cloud Solutions group offers cloud consulting, engineering and migration services to help companies leverage the power of cloud computing.
CloudLinux
Is innovative software company dedicated to serving the needs of hosting service providers, is the recipient of the 2010 Best Start-Up Award by the The Cloud Computing World Forum in the “World Series” Innovation competition. Cloud Linux received the award for its new innovation on how to “crash proof” servers as hosting providers migrate to a cloud based services model.
CloudSleuth
CloudSleuth delivers a test lab that brings real-time views of cloud performance to the forefront. For those members shopping around for a cloud service provider, the CloudSleuth platform delivers visualization and performance benchmarks that give them the power to compare the response times and availability of the top cloud service providers.
Lookout
Is a mobile security company dedicated to making the mobile experience safe for everyone. Today, with users across 400 mobile networks in 170 countries, Lookout is a world leader in smartphone protection which will be big in the cloud computing market..
By CloudTweaks
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Nimbula raises $15M to expand cloud service
Aug 24th
Reuters Press Release
Nimbula, a provider of cloud-computing services, raised an additional $15 million in venture capital funding in a second round led by Accel Partners on Monday. It plans to use the money to promote market adoption of its on-demand computing service.
Accel Partners snagged a spot on the company’s board of directors, which will be filled by the Accel partner Ping Li, a cloud-computing specialist who has also backed Cloudera and BitTorrent, among others.
The company bills itself as a provider of a more private and customizable version of online retailer Amazon.com’s on-demand service, which charges users hourly rates to rent computing resources via the Internet. Amazon.com’s service, called the Elastic Compute Cloud or EC2, was also developed by Nimbula cofounders Chris Pinkham and Willem van Bijon.
Nimbula’s launch was formally unveiled at Structure, a cloud-computing conference held in San Francisco, in June after it raised $5.75 million from Sequoia Capital. Sequoia also participated in Nimbula’s second round.
The cloud service provider joins several others that have also secured venture capital funding recently, including Eucalyptus and Makara.
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Cloud Security – Intel buys security software firm McAfee for $7.68B
Aug 21st
Intel announced today that it will acquire McAfee, maker of anti-virus and other security software, for $7.68 billion in cash, or $48 per share.
The per share price is 60 percent more than McAfee’s $29.93 closing price on Wednesday. McAfee shares jumped 58 percent after the deal was made public to $47.42 in pre-market trading, while Intel shares dipped 2.5 percent to $19.11, the AP reports.
The boards of both companies have unanimously approved the deal, but it’s still pending McAfee shareholder and regulatory approval. Intel said the deal “reflects that security is now a fundamental component of online computing.” Intel went on to say that security is now just as important to the company as energy efficiency and internet connectivity.
McAfee will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Intel and will report to its Software and Services Group. Both companies are based in Santa Clara, Calif. Founded in 1987, McAfee has some 6,100 employees, and saw $2 billion in 2009 revenue.
Intel will benefit from McAfee’s entrenched position in the security field, and McAfee may be able to optimize its notoriously performance-hungry software now that it’s a part of the company that provides the CPUs to many computers.
Intel recently announced its best quarter ever with $2.9 billion in profit, thanks to an influx of delayed computer purchases by businesses.
Companies: Intel, McAfee
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CA Technologies Acquires Virtualization and Cloud Infrastructure Consulting Firm
Aug 13th
4Base Technology Will Help Customers Move Quickly, Pragmatically and Successfully from Virtualization to Cloud by Providing Strategic Advice and Implementation Expertise
ISLANDIA, N.Y., Aug. 12 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — As part of its continued investment in virtualization and cloud management, CA Technologies (Nasdaq: CA) today announced the acquisition of privately-held 4Base Technology, a virtualization and cloud infrastructure consulting firm. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
4Base will become the CA Virtualization and Cloud Strategy group, a competency practice within the CA Services division. With experience in more than 300 engagements, 4Base will help customers move quickly, pragmatically and successfully from virtualization to cloud by providing strategic advice and implementation expertise.
“As CA Technologies expands its role as a strategic partner and advisor to customers on the journey from virtualization to cloud computing, we are investing in both the software and consulting services needed to achieve substantial business results,” said Adam Elster, general manager of CA Services. “4Base has worked with hundreds of customers across a broad spectrum of virtualization and cloud technologies, including CA Technologies, Cisco, EMC, NetApp and VMware. Through this experience, 4Base has developed a broad base of skills, knowledge and experience that will play a critical role in CA Technologies ability to help customers quickly plan, adopt and execute transformative strategies and technologies that make their business more agile.”
Virtualization and cloud computing are in a fluid and evolving state, and CA Technologies will engage customers with a more comprehensive solution—both products and services—designed to help them fully realize the agility and operational benefits that can be derived from virtualization and cloud computing. With 4Base, CA Technologies customers can access proven approaches, skills and experience as they begin or continue on the virtualization-to-cloud journey, significantly reducing risk and accelerating returns.
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Why Cloud Based Computing is the Best Practice to Adopt
Aug 10th
Cloud based computing offers the most sought after advantages to corporations and all with reduced cost and easy implementation. With the passage of time corporations are becoming more specialized and skilled in their operations. Instead of doing everything themselves, they concentrate more on their specific area and get services from other vendors for related tasks. Cloud computing is one of such services in which companies are free from responsibilities to maintain and manage their data and to get software application for their routine operations.
Here are some advantages which make cloud computing the best practice to adopt.
1. Reduced Cost
Cloud based services greatly reduce the capital expenditure of software, hardware and services. In cloud based services companies have to pay only for what they use. It also saves a lot of space and hardware for the company’s DBMS.
2. More Agile
Cloud based services are more agile because vendors offer services on demand with no time wastage on software development and deployment. The changes in requirements are easy and fast to accommodate.
3. Scalability
Cloud based services suit business of all sizes and types. You don’t have to buy on all or none principal and don’t have to pay for services and modules you don’t use. Since the cloud based vendors charge on utility bill method, the corporations can add and subtract services from its usage as the requirements change.
4. Increased Storage
Corporations can have access to increased storage at a low price as compared to that of company servers or private computers.
5. Specialization of Operations
Cloud based services free your IT department resources from managing and maintaining the IT related tasks. So you can downsize your IT department and concentrate more on your business critical tasks to excel in the market.
Cloud Growth – Cisco posts 79 percent jump in quarterly profit
Aug 12th
Posted by cloudtweaks in Business
1 comment
Cisco Systems CEO John Chambers on Wednesday reported strong revenue and profit — as well as thousands of new hires around the globe, including hundreds in San Jose — but his upbeat comments came amid “mixed signals” from customers nervous about the wobbly global economy.
On a day markets plunged on worries about a stalling economic recovery, Cisco, the San Jose maker of the plumbing for the Internet, reported a $1.9 billion profit for its fourth quarter, a 79 percent increase from the same period a year earlier. Earnings were 33 cents a share, or 43 cents a share excluding certain charges.
Sales jumped 27 percent to $10.8 billion. For fiscal year 2010, Cisco had sales of $40 billion, an 11 percent increase from the previous year. The results were in line with Wall Street’s expectations. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters were expecting adjusted earnings of 42 cents a share on revenue of $10.87 billion.
But Cisco’s conservative forecast for the current quarter — revenue growth of 18 to 20 percent — gave investors jitters. In after-hours trading, shares of Cisco dropped $1.89, or 7.96 percent, to $21.85.
Continue Reading at: SiliconValley
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