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News and insights from the vibrant world of virtualization and cloud computing

Release: EMC Atmos 2.0

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EMC Corporation today announced EMC Atmos 2.0 and EMC Atmos GeoDrive software are now generally available and shipping.

Atmos 2.0 (with its EMC Atmos GeoParity feature)—provides customers with efficient management of globally distributed big data and cloud storage environments.

EMC is now shipping new features that help customers better manage big data and object storage:

– Stores object segments rather than entire objects across distributed storage environments for unmatched protection.

– Provides transparent access to the cloud.

The new EMC Atmos GeoDrive is a secure and fast way for Windows users and applications to gain cloud access. The new software enables customers to simply install, and in a matter of minutes, transparently begin moving data to the cloud.

Gartner: Global IT Spending To Grow 7.1 Percent In 2011

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Worldwide IT spending is on pace to grow 7.1 percent in 2011, according to the latest quarterly spending outlook by Gartner. Analysts have revised overall IT forecast spending growth in U.S. dollar terms, up from their first quarter update, when they projected 5.6 percent growth for 2011.

“It is a bit surprising that we have not seen a more significant impact on our global IT spending forecast as a results of the Japan earthquake and tsunami, but despite widespread concerns about disruptions to the supply of critical components in the initial aftermath of the natural disaster, there has not been a dramatic impact on overall IT spending,” said Richard Gordon, research vice president at Gartner.

“For 2011 as a whole, we expect Japan IT spending to be down in local currency, but we expect a positive growth trend to emerge in the second half of the year and continue into 2012.”

Global IT services is forecast to reach $846 billion in 2011, a 6.6 percent increase from 2010. The computing and hardware segment is poised for the strongest growth with spending forecast to grow 11.7 percent in 2011.

Gartner’s latest forecast found that worldwide public cloud services spending is to total $89 billion in 2011, up from $74 billion in 2010. The market is forecast to reach $177 billion by 2015.

However, to put this growth in context, Gartner analysts said public cloud services spending was only about 2 percent of global IT spending in 2010, and by 2015 the level of spending on public cloud services will be less than 5 percent of the total spent on IT overall.

Extreme Networks Names David Ginsburg As Chief Marketing Officer

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Extreme Networks today announced that it has named communications industry veteran David Ginsburg as its Chief Marketing Officer. Paul Hooper, Vice President of Corporate Marketing, has resigned and will be leaving the company to pursue other interests.

Ginsburg joined Extreme Networks in December 2010, when he was appointed to lead strategic marketing, product portfolio definition, and vertical solutions marketing.

As CMO, Ginsburg expands his role to take on the full mantle of global marketing activities for the company, and will be responsible for all aspects of corporate marketing, product management, solutions marketing, and outbound communications activities.

Ginsburg has held key marketing positions at communications companies such as Cisco Systems and Nortel Networks, and at start-up companies including Allegro Networks, Shasta and Innopath.

As senior vice president of worldwide marketing and product management for Riverstone Networks, he led the efforts to drive global branding and field marketing, coupled with key product differentiation, to focus on driving revenue and winning market share in the Ethernet market.

ChangeBASE Now Covers Microsoft Windows Desktop Virtualization Technologies

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ChangeBASE, which provides automated application compatibility testing and remediation solutions, has created a new application compatibility tool for companies considering moving to a session virtualization or virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) environment with Windows Server 2008 R2 Remote Desktop Services (RDS).

The AOK Tool helps to determine which applications will work optimally in a server-hosted desktop virtualization environment on Windows Server 2008 R2.

Using the AOK Tool together with the recently launched ChangeBASE reporting rules and plug-ins for RDS which have been developed together with Microsoft makes it easier to find out which applications will work out of the box and which ones may experience issues.

RDS is one of the core virtualisation technologies available in Windows Server 2008 R2.

In addition to the traditional session virtualisation scenario (formerly known as Terminal Services), RDS has expanded its role to provide an extensible platform for VDI.

RDS, which separates where the desktop or application is used from where it is run, accelerates desktop & application deployments and improves remote worker efficiency, while helping to keep critical intellectual property secure and to simplify regulatory compliance.

Wipro Builds A Private Cloud For OnStream

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Wipro Technologies has built a private cloud for OnStream Utility Metering Services Limited.

OnStream provides gas and electricity metering solutions in the United Kingdom. OnStream is part of National Grid Group, which is one of the largest energy delivery businesses in the world and the largest investor-owned utility in the United Kingdom.

Wipro initiated the private cloud project for OnStream in October 2010.

OnStream replaced its existing legacy IT infrastructure with a new service driven model using a private cloud approach. This approach aligned the IT architecture to be more flexible in functionality and configuration while at the same time lowering operational cost and improving responsiveness.

NetApp Syncsort Integrated Backup: Super Fast Physical To Virtual Server Migration

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Syncsort, a provider of data integration acceleration and data protection software solutions, today announced enhancements to the NetApp Syncsort Integrated Backup solution that deliver productivity gains and cost savings to customers through 10-minute physical to virtual (P2V) server migration.

NSB leverages snapshot technology to provide rapid return to production for applications during P2V migrations. It converts Windows or Linux-based physical server backups into VMware virtual machines through a simple, automated process that creates the virtual machine with ease.

The solution uses NetApp-based snapshots to start the virtual machines, a process that can take as little as 10 minutes with some variation based on system resources. The full data set from the physical server is then copied to a newly created virtual machine.

When backup copying is complete, VMware Storage vMotion is used to switch the application from the snapshot to the newly created virtual machine, typically with zero system downtime during the process. This results in a full P2V server migration that significantly reduces downtime when compared to traditional migration processes.

NSB also ensures proper data alignment for the disks of the new virtual machine automatically as part of the 10-minute P2V migration process. This eliminates a common concern for customers when migrating applications, and helps them avoid significant virtual machine performance degradation and the lengthy downtime often needed to correct data alignment issues.