Major Cloud Outages of 2012 to Learn From According to a recent report by the International Working Group on Cloud Computing Resiliency, each year a cloud computing service is usually down for an average of 7.5 hours. Companies who use the cloud for running their operations totally or partially were severely affected this year. So, let’s see some of the biggest outages suffered by cloud users in 2012: Microsoft Windows Azure Microsoft Windows Azure suffered an extensive, worldwide outage in February that wasn’t fully addressed for more than 24 hours. The Azure cloud service outage impacted more geographic regions in
Microsoft Windows Azure
Week In Review: December 17th, 2012 Cloud News on the Cloud This week the Christmas spirit visited Microsoft who won a partnership with NORAD to track Santa and Facebook as delivered an improved app to Android users. Google has finally developed a celebrated Maps app for iOS users and we are starting to see a new war between internet browsers. The Internet Browser Wars Have Started Again According to the New York Times a new internet browser war has been brewing for quite some time and it may very well outmatch the one that has been waged between Internet Explorer and Netscape back in
ScreenerONE: The Latest Cloud For Film Film, like every other business, has to constantly adapt or die. Filmmakers are constantly on the lookout for the latest technology to make things cheaper and easier. Last week I wrote about Ultraviolet and this week it’s Arvato’s platform for cloud computing: ScreenerONE Arvato, one of the world’s biggest media and communications companies, showed ScreenerONE at The National Association of Broadcasters, which is the largest trade show of it’s kind in the world, in April of this year. ScreenerONE is a cloud-based content platform. Like most cloud-based platforms it allows collaboration between different people
Does Microsoft Windows Azure Threaten vCloud? It appears like Microsoft is desperate to become the OS for cloud computing. At Microsoft’s Worldwide Partner Conference on July 10th, the company has announced its Windows Azure’s white-label version which is targeted at the web hosts currently based on Windows Server. This can be viewed as a challenge for VMware, which is trying to push its vCloud agenda. In recent years, VMware is spanning cloud-based and on-premise deployments. In the past, Microsoft has received flak for not having a lawful hybrid cloud-strategy. But, Microsoft appears to be back on the right track with
Kidney Research Reconfirms Cloud’s Importance The National Kidney Registry has embraced cloud computing as a critical component of its mission to streamline and improve its organ matching processes. The NKR’s primary matching system, known as SMELAC, was recently relocated to Microsoft Windows Azure, in a move to significantly quicken the pace of processing new organ match-related data. MarketWire reports that Azure has boosted SMELAC’s computing capacity by 400%, fast enough to allow for researchers to synchronize their efforts in producing a new organ match. Organizations from disciplines with precious and sensitive data, such as banks and hospitals, have typically been
SurePass and Microsoft Team on Preventing Data Breaches SurePass has launched a comprehensive suite of Secure Cloud Services (SCS), which run on Windows Azure. This collaboration will enable both technology providers and application developers to deploy the additional security elements needed to deliver a secure application to their clients. SurePass is a software and hardware security company, which specializes in securing cloud-based applications. It is delivering a significant value both in cost savings and market credibility through next generation Cloud based security solutions. SurePass developed its Secure Cloud Services to run on Windows Azure and with Secure Token Services (STS),
Metanga Enhances Microsoft Cloud Adoption MetraTech, a provider of agreements-based billing and compensation solutions, has launched its multi-tenant software-as-a-service (SaaS)-based billing solution, on Microsoft Windows Azure. Known as Metanga, this solution will help Microsoft’s customers to monetize their Windows Azure offerings. It facilitates the adoption of Windows Azure to new audiences and also make Microsoft’s cloud platform more relevant. According to MetraTech, this announcement highlights its relationship with Windows Azure and continues its business relation with Microsoft. Metanga is a native Windows Azure building block solution, which provides Microsoft’s independent software vendor (ISV) customers with the shortest path to cloud-based
Polycom Hosts Cloud-Based Media Services on Microsoft Azure Polycom’s Accordent Media Services are powered by Microsoft Windows Azure. Organizations can leverage this cloud services offering hosted on the Windows Azure platform to rapidly and cost effectively deploy a single, secure, searchable video content management solution for all their video assets. Although businesses want to enjoy optimal productivity benefits from their growing libraries of multi-source, multi-format video assets, they do not want to invest a lot on extensive IT resources. Polycom notes that businesses also do not want to make major capital expenditures on networking or storage hardware. These issues are
