Data Center Management Articles
After the recent 2015 SHARE event in Seattle wrapped up, SHARE President James Vincent (Nationwide Insurance) sat down with us to reflect on the education, as well as the goals and challenges that lie ahead for the user group, and the role of the mainframe in the enterprise."The mainframe is at the heart of SHARE and its Member companies, so I do not see SHARE moving away from the mainframe environment. I do, however, see SHARE expanding to include a more enterprise technology focus," Vincent told 5 Minute Briefing: Data Center.
Posted March 30, 2015
We are increasingly living in a "sensors world," where data is constantly gathered by smartphones, smart watches, sport trackers, smart devices, and even smart houses. Service providers collect this data for research, marketing campaign effectiveness analysis, proactive solutions, and more. All these "sensors" generate a constant flow that needs to be stored, processed and analyzed in order to bring value.
Posted March 26, 2015
ScaleArc, a provider of database load balancing software, has announced support for automatic cache invalidation, providing a transparent ACID-compliant caching mechanism for dynamic data. The ScaleArc software tracks data changes to invalidate a cache entry, ensuring that outdated data is not served for Oracle and MySQL, as well as SQL Server database environments.
Posted March 25, 2015
Most organizations, whether public or private sector, are facing exponential increases in the amount of information and data that they need to continuously track, manage, and protect to ensure organizational success, continuity of operations and long-term viability. While many attackers still focus on denial of service attacks, cybercriminals often target the database because that is where sensitive information resides that would interest someone looking to steal credit card information or personal identities
Posted March 25, 2015
I woke up early to get to the airport to ensure a timely check-in. When I got to the desk, the airline representative asked for my name and destination, keyed it in and we waited for the system to respond. The next words out of her mouth were, "Sorry, the system is slow today, you know how it is."
Posted March 25, 2015
IBM supports Linux on every Power System it makes, and the OpenPOWER Foundation makes POWER-based hardware and software available for development of custom open servers and components for Linux-based cloud data centers, observes Doug Balog, General Manager, IBM Power Systems, in a new blog post. IBM has also made a $1 billion investment in Linux and open source technologies for Power Systems and operates five IBM Power Systems Linux Centers around the world to support development of new applications for cloud, big data analytics, mobile and social business.
Posted March 25, 2015
IBM Enterprise Linux Server (ELS) can help save software licensing costs, while consolidating different kinds of workloads onto a single server, supporting CIOs in their today's budget challenges. ELS also helps to overcome server sprawl, by requiring less physical servers, less floor space, less energy, with increased flexibility due to IBM z/VM virtualization and simplified management based on IBM Wave for z/VM.
Posted March 25, 2015
IBM designed the Enterprise Linux Server from the ground up to add real business value without increasing IT costs. The Enterprise Linux Server's integrated combination of industry leading server and virtualization technologies provide a simple, efficient and trusted infrastructure foundation for businesses with growing Linux workloads.
Posted March 25, 2015
IBM Research and SCA are partnering to create a shared service cloud for the municipalities of New York that is predicted to eliminate 25% of government's IT budget by streamlining applications and connecting siloed municipalities. The IBM mainframe is the platform that New York trusts to host that cloud. In addition to its time-tested scalability, reliability and security, it offers the lowest total cost of ownership — supporting the state as it strives for reduced spending and a smarter, future-ready IT infrastructure.
Posted March 25, 2015
Challenged to do more with less, Dundee City Council identified IT as an area in which it could cut costs. The council consolidated its Oracle Database environment supporting critical services from distributed servers to an IBM zEnterprise BC12 platform, dramatically improving efficiency.
Posted March 25, 2015
IBM Business Partner L3C LLP focuses on three ways to help businesses across the UK increase profitability and reduce costs: consultancy, managed services and complementary IT resources. L3C deployed IBM System z servers running Linux to provide companies of any size — including small, midsized and very large enterprises — with scalable, cost-effective, high-performance cloud services.
Posted March 25, 2015
EVERTEC, Inc., based in Puerto Rico, offers a comprehensive suite of services for core bank processing, cash processing and technology outsourcing. EVERTEC relies on IBM zEnterprise EC12 system running SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for System z to support key financial systems and Oracle databases.
Posted March 25, 2015
Whether your business provides big data and analytics to others, or you use big data and analytics to enhance your own products, research and marketing, it is necessary to have a fast, efficient and reliable infrastructure and architecture.
Posted March 25, 2015
Red Hat Summit brings together thought leaders and executives from across the technology industry to participate in keynotes and sessions on community, innovation, collaboration and customer success. Attendees will have the opportunity to meet with Red Hat product teams, hear from expert users at leading customer and partner companies, get hands-on training and learn best practices and strategies for innovation and success.
Posted March 25, 2015
Although big data promises to dramatically alter the business environment, technology is only a decision enabler.
Posted March 25, 2015
In 2013, Bon Ton Stores invested in upgrading IT, continuing to update and expand its eCommerce sites, and launching a new mobile site supporting delivery of promotions and online purchasing.
Posted March 25, 2015
Teradata Analytics for SAP Solutions can now infuse near real-time data from SAP ERP applications into enterprise analytic and reporting applications. According to Teradata, the expanded capability can help organizations extract business value hidden within their ERP applications. "By providing access to integrated data in near real-time we're enabling our customers to make data from SAP ERP applications usable for business intelligence across the enterprise," said Scott Gnau, president, Teradata Labs.
Posted March 25, 2015
Leveraging its partnership with SAP as well as its technology innovation in support of the SAP HANA platform, Lenovo announced its Lenovo System x3850 X6 has achieved an industry-leading result on the SAP Business Warehouse-Enhanced Mixed Load (SAP BW-EML) standard application benchmark. The Lenovo x3850 X6 achieved a record load of 1,542,060 ad hoc navigation steps per hour on the benchmark, more than 10 times better than the previously published winning results.
Posted March 25, 2015
VMware has announced the expansion of VMware vCloud Air in Europe with the general availability of service in Frankfurt, Germany. Complementing VMware's U.K. location and the vCloud Air Network of service providers, the new VMware-operated German data center provides customers with a Central European location that helps to address German and EU compliance and data protection regulations, while using VMware's enterprise-class cloud.
Posted March 25, 2015
NOAD, a provider of enterprise platform management for SAP BusinessObjects business intelligence (BI) solutions, has announced that following a rigorous testing process the software solution NOAD EQM4, version 3.3, has achieved certified integration with the SAP BusinessObjects BI platform, version 4.1. NOAD EQM4 3.3 provides developers working with the SAP BusinessObjects BI platform a reliable and stable solution to develop independently in a controlled environment.
Posted March 25, 2015
Youredi, a Finland-based provider of data integration solutions for global e-commerce, is launching its iPaaS (integration platform as a service) data integration solution in the U.S. and establishing a North American subsidiary.
Posted March 24, 2015
Axxana's Phoenix System for Oracle version 1.2 has achieved Oracle Exadata Ready, Oracle Big Data Appliance Ready, and Oracle Linux Ready status through Oracle Partner Network (OPN). Axxana's Phoenix System for Oracle provides a disaster recovery solution for Oracle environments.
Posted March 18, 2015
Oracle announced that fiscal 2015 Q3 total revenues were unchanged at $9.3 billion. Without the currency headwinds caused by the strengthening of the U.S. dollar, the company said total revenues would have been up 6% as measured in constant currency. "Oracle now has a cloud revenue run rate of well over $2 billion a year. We are already the world's second largest SaaS and PaaS company," said Oracle chairman and CTO Larry Ellison during a conference call discussing Oracle's third quarter financial results.
Posted March 18, 2015
The Independent Oracle Users Groups (IOUG) has been serving Oracle technologists and professionals for more than 20 years, and we are very pleased with how much the community has grown as well as how much IOUG has accomplished. Having said this, we will not rest on our laurels. There are many great opportunities that lie ahead of us. While we set the bar pretty high in 2014 with the establishment of the content-rich blog #IOUGenius, an increased number of Master Classes offered across the nation and a truly inspirational COLLABORATE 14, you'll be very pleased with what IOUG has in store for 2015.
Posted March 17, 2015
COLLABORATE 15 - Technology and Applications Forum for the Oracle Community (hashtag #C15LV) is back in Las Vegas April 12-16, 2015 at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, offering a wide variety of education and valuable opportunities for collaboration among peers. The more than 1250 planned education sessions in 17 tracks were sourced through the user communities of IOUG, OAUG and Quest and selected through a competitive process. The result is an agenda packed with relevant insights for functional as well as technical users, beginner to advanced.
Posted March 17, 2015
The 55,000+ member Quest International Users Group supports JD Edwards, PeopleSoft, Fusion, and many other Oracle edge application customers and offers tons of resources to make your job easier. Here are just a few reasons you should go Quest green at COLLABORATE 15.
Posted March 17, 2015
Violin Memory, Inc., which offers flash storage platform solutions for primary storage and active workloads, is launching a Global Partner Program and a new simplified online portal. The expanded Violin Global Partner Program will establish incentives and business models that will help organizations to achieve success through simplified partner programs, more predictable performance rewards, and tools to deliver consistency in partner engagement.
Posted March 17, 2015
In a recent blog from SHARE, Pam Taylor, senior product manager at IBM, shared her thoughts about the importance of establishing a framework for addressing governance, risk and compliance.
Posted March 16, 2015
BMC has begun shipping new capabilities in its mainframe management suite, aimed at helping IT executives reduce IBM Monthly License Charge (MLC) software costs. BMC Cost Analyzer is designed to help users better manage their mainframe budget and reduce MLC costs by up to 20% through workload placement, the vendor claims.
Posted March 16, 2015
SOA Software, a provider of API Management, service-oriented architecture governance and cloud integration solutions, is changing its name to Akana. "Enterprises today need a ‘digital glue' to securely extend their data to their ecosystem, build efficient partner networks and digital value-chains, and extract intelligent insights into their business through analytics," said Paul Gigg, CEO of Akana. "Akana remains committed to providing innovative and flexible solutions to address the continuously evolving needs of both our customers and the market as a whole."
Posted March 16, 2015
SUSE has introduced the latest version of its OpenStack distribution for building Infrastructure-as-a-Service private clouds. Formerly called SUSE Cloud, SUSE OpenStack Cloud 5 is based on the latest OpenStack release (Juno) and provides increased networking flexibility and improved operational efficiency to simplify private cloud infrastructure management.
Posted March 16, 2015
TeamQuest, a provider of IT capacity planning and management solutions, announced new updates to its flagship software suite, aimed at providing analytics across multi-vendor environments.
Posted March 16, 2015
VMware is offering a new release of VMware Horizon 6, a comprehensive desktop and application virtualization solution for delivering and managing physical desktops and laptops, virtual desktops and applications, and employee-owned PCs. VMware also announced an early access program for its VMware Horizon for Linux virtual desktop solution, with support for Red Hat and Ubuntu-based Linux desktops.
Posted March 13, 2015
It looks like 2015 will be an important year for big data and many other technologies such as HTAP and in-memory computing. Many businesses have gone from investigation to experimentation to actual implementation. With installations coming online, and more to come in 2015 and beyond, big data will become more efficient and more customer-focused. Essentially, what many saw as hype will now turn into real implementations.
Posted March 12, 2015
In information services, providing a solution that removes a user's pain can be a great boost to one's psyche. Being the hero, wins trust, and may even enhance job security. However, organizationally, too many sideline heroics create chaos. The day after the crisis has passed, things are left in a less than wonderful state.
Posted March 12, 2015
One of the trickiest aspects of relational database management can be dealing with missing information. The standard method of representing missing information is to set the "value" to null.
Posted March 12, 2015
Dell has announced a new endpoint security suite to help businesses protect employee devices from malware attacks, secure data and meet compliance requirements. The Dell Data Protection | Endpoint Security Suite (DDP | ESS) provides threat protection, authentication and data encryption with a single management console in an integrated, easy-to-deploy solution. It is available as a stand-alone software offering for both Dell and non-Dell hardware, and as an integrated offering with Dell commercial laptops, desktops and tablets, and is targeted at the mid-market, which Brett Hansen, executive director of end user computing software and mobility at Dell, defined as companies with 100 to 5,000 employees.
Posted March 10, 2015
Ryft has unveiled the Ryft ONE, a commercial 1U platform designed to enable faster business insights by simultaneously analyzing up to 48 terabytes of historical and streaming data at 10 gigabytes/second or faster. The Ryft ONE will be available in early Q2 2015, as a hosted or on-premises solution, and the Ryft Early Access Program is now accepting applications.
Posted March 10, 2015