Home > Resources > Articles > Global internet body ICANN readies new key to improved web security

Global internet body ICANN readies new key to improved web security

Every time you type an address into your browser you’re essentially asking a question from the Internet.
The answer is the website that loads seconds later.
Internet users want to trust that the answers they get, the sites that load on their screens, are correct. This may not always be the case.Because internet infrastructure was not designed with security as a primary concern, it is possible for a hacker to intercept your question and give you an answer that may look correct but is wrong.

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Hyper-Converged Infrastructure, Application Infrastructure

Ensuring Long-Term Reliability of Technology Partners using HCI

Article | July 19, 2023

Building trust through HCI by unveiling strategies to ensure the long-term reliability of technology partnerships, cementing lasting collaborations in a dynamic business landscape through vendor stability. Contents 1. Introduction 2. How HCI Overcomes Infrastructural Challenges 3. Evaluation Criteria for Enterprise HCI 3.1. Distributed Storage Layer 3.2. Data Security 3.3. Data Reduction 4. Assessing Vendor Stability: Ensuring Long-Term Reliability of Partners 4.1. Vendor Track Record 4.2. Financial Stability 4.3. Customer Base and References 4.4. Product Roadmap and Innovation 4.5. Support and Maintenance 4.6. Partnerships and Ecosystem 4.7. Industry Recognition and Analyst Reports 4.8. Contracts and SLAs 5. Final Takeaway 1. Introduction When collaborating with a vendor, it is essential to evaluate their financial stability. This ensures that they are able to fulfil their obligations and deliver the promised services or goods. Prior to making contractual commitments, it is necessary to conduct due diligence to determine a vendor's financial health. This article examines when a vendor's financial viability must be evaluated, why to do so, and how vendor and contract management software can assist businesses. IT organizations of all sizes face numerous infrastructure difficulties. On one hand, they frequently receive urgent demands from the business to keep their organization agile and proactive while implementing new digital transformation initiatives. They also struggle to keep their budget under control, provide new resources swiftly, and manage the increasing complexity while maintaining a reasonable level of efficiency. For many organizations, a cloud-only IT strategy is not a viable option; as a result, there is a growing interest in hybrid scenarios that offer the best of both realms. By combining cloud and traditional IT infrastructures, there is a real danger of creating silos, going in the incorrect direction, and further complicating the overall infrastructure, thereby introducing inefficiencies. 2. How HCI Overcomes Infrastructural Challenges Hyper-converged infrastructures (HCI) surpass conventional infrastructures in terms of simplicity and adaptability. HCI enables organizations to conceal the complexity of their IT infrastructure while reaping the benefits of a cloud-like environment. HCI simplifies operations and facilitates the migration of on-premises data and applications to the cloud. HCI is a software-defined solution that abstracts and organizes CPU, memory, networking, and storage devices as resource pools, typically utilizing commodity x86-based hardware and virtualization software. It enables the administrator to rapidly combine and provision these resources as virtual machines and, more recently, as independent storage resources such as network-attached storage (NAS) filers and object stores. Management operations are also simplified, allowing for an increase in infrastructure productivity while reducing the number of operators and system administrators per virtual machine managed. HCI market and itssolutions can be categorized into three groups: Enterprise Solutions They have an extensive feature set, high scalability, core-to-cloud integrations, and tools that extend beyond traditional virtualization platform management and up the application stack. Small/Medium Enterprise Solutions Comparable to the previous category, but simplified and more affordable. The emphasis remains on simplifying the IT infrastructure for virtualized environments, with limited core-to-cloud integrations and a limited ecosystem of solutions. Vertical Solutions Designed for particular use cases or vertical markets, they are highly competitive in edge-cloud or edge-core deployments, but typically have a limited ecosystem of solutions. These solutions incorporate open-source hypervisors, such as KVM, to provide end-to-end support at lower costs. They are typically not very scalable, but they are efficient from a resource consumption standpoint. 3. Evaluation Criteria for Enterprise HCI 3.1 Distributed Storage Layer The distributed storage layer provides primary data storage service for virtual machines and is a crucial component of every HCI solution. Depending on the exposed protocol, they are typically presented as a virtual network-attached storage (NAS) or storage area network (SAN) and contain all of the data. There are three distributed storage layer approaches for HCI: Virtual storage appliance (VSA): A virtual machine administered by the same hypervisor as the other virtual machines in the node. A VSA is more flexible and can typically support multiple hypervisors, but this method may result in increased latency. Integrated within the hypervisor or the Operating System (OS): The storage layer is an extension of the hypervisor and does not require the preceding approach's components (VM and guest OS). The tight integration boosts overall performance, enhances workload telemetry, and fully exploits hypervisor characteristics, but the storage layer is not portable. Specialized storage nodes: The distributed storage layer is comprised of specialized nodes in order to achieve optimal performance consistency and scalability for both internal and external storage consumption. This strategy, which is typically more expensive than the alternatives for lesser configurations, is utilized. 3.2 Data Security Currently, all vendors offer sophisticated data protection against multiple failures, such as full node, single, and multiple-component issues. Distributed erasure coding safeguards information by balancing performance and data footprint efficiency. This equilibrium is made possible by modern CPUs with sophisticated instruction sets, new hardware such as NVMe and storage-class memory (SCM) devices, and data path optimizations. In addition, the evolution of storage technologies has played a pivotal role in enhancing data protection strategies. The introduction of high-capacity SSDs (Solid-State Drives) and advancements in storage virtualization have further strengthened the ability to withstand failures and ensure uninterrupted data availability. These technological innovations, combined with the relentless pursuit of redundancy and fault tolerance, have elevated the resilience of modern data storage systems. Furthermore, for data protection and security, compliance with rules, regulations, and laws is paramount. Governments and regulatory bodies across the globe have established stringent frameworks to safeguard sensitive information and ensure privacy. Adherence to laws such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in Europe, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) in the United States, and various industry-specific regulations is non-negotiable. Organizations must fortify their data against technical vulnerabilities and align their practices with legal requirements to prevent costly fines, legal repercussions, and reputational damage. 3.3 Data Reduction Optimization of the data footprint is a crucial aspect of hyper-converged infrastructures. Deduplication, compression, and other techniques, such as thin provisioning, can significantly improve capacity utilization in virtualized environments, particularly for Virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) use cases. Moreover, in order to optimize rack space utilization and achieve server balance, the number of storage devices that can be deployed on a single HCI node is restricted. 4. Assessing Vendor Stability: Ensuring Long-Term Reliability of Partners Here are some key factors that contribute to ensuring long-term reliability: 4.1 Vendor Track Record Assessing the vendor's track record and reputation in the industry is crucial. Look for established vendors with a history of delivering reliable products and services. A vendor that has been operating in the market for a significant period of time and has a strong customer base indicates stability. 4.2 Financial Stability Consider factors such as the vendor's profitability, revenue growth, and ability to invest in research and development. Financial stability ensures the vendor's ability to support their products and services over the long term. 4.3 Customer Base and References Look at the size and diversity of the vendor's customer base. A large and satisfied customer base indicates that the vendor's solutions have been adopted successfully by organizations. Request references from existing customers to get insights into their experience with the vendor's stability and support. 4.4 Product Roadmap and Innovation Assess the vendor's product roadmap and commitment to ongoing innovation. A vendor that actively invests in research and development, regularly updates their products, and introduces new features and enhancements demonstrates a long-term commitment to their solution's reliability and advancement. 4.5 Support and Maintenance Evaluate the vendor's support and maintenance services. Look for comprehensive support offerings, including timely bug fixes, security patches, and firmware updates. Understand the vendor's service-level agreements (SLAs), response times, and availability of technical support to ensure they can address any issues that may arise. 4.6 Partnerships and Ecosystem Consider the vendor's partnerships and ecosystem. A strong network of partners, including technology alliances and integrations with other industry-leading vendors, can contribute to long-term reliability. Partnerships demonstrate collaboration, interoperability, and a wider ecosystem that enhances the vendor's solution. 4.7 Industry Recognition and Analyst Reports Assess the vendor's industry recognition and performance in analyst reports. Look for accolades, awards, and positive evaluations from reputable industry analysts. These assessments provide independent validation of the vendor's stability and the reliability of their HCI solution. 4.8 Contracts and SLAs Review the vendor's contracts, service-level agreements, and warranties carefully. Ensure they provide appropriate guarantees for support, maintenance, and ongoing product updates throughout the expected lifecycle of the HCI solution. 5. Final Takeaway Evaluating a vendor's financial stability is crucial before entering into contractual commitments to ensure their ability to fulfill obligations. Hyper-converged infrastructure overcomes infrastructural challenges by simplifying operations, enabling cloud-like environments, and facilitating data and application migration. The HCI market offers enterprise, small/medium enterprise, and vertical solutions, each catering to different needs and requirements. Analysing enterprise HCI solutions requires careful consideration of various criteria. Each approach has its own advantages and considerations related to flexibility, performance, and cost. The mentioned techniques can significantly reduce the data footprint, particularly in use cases like VDI, while maintaining performance and efficiency. Organizations take decisions that align with their specific storage, security, and efficiency requirements by considering the evaluation criteria for enterprise HCI solutions. By considering these factors, organizations can make informed decisions and choose a vendor with a strong foundation of reliability, stability, and long-term commitment, ensuring the durability of their HCI infrastructure and minimizing risks associated with vendor instability.

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Hyper-Converged Infrastructure, Windows Systems and Network

Upcoming Events for Driving Business Success in the HCI Industry

Article | July 11, 2023

Hyperconverged Infrastructure (HCI) is a critical aspect of the ever-evolving infrastructure industry, helping ensure efficient and secure operation. It involves the continuous surveillance, analysis, and management of the digitalization in manufacturing, performance, and efficiency. To stay ahead of the latest advancements in this industry, executives and managers must attend the upcoming conferences scheduled for 2023. These events provide a crucial platform for professionals to gain in-depth insights into emerging trends, innovative technologies, and best practices. Basics and Operation of Hyperconverged Infrastructure November 21, 2023 | Online Attend the training session on hyper convergent infrastructure led by Dr. Markus Ermes. This session will address hyper-convergent infrastructure questions, including appliances or software, central data centers or smaller locations, and established manufacturers or challengers. During the training session, this Hyperconverged Infrastructure conference allows participants to gain insights into software-defined storage, the critical properties of storage technologies, changes in backup and recovery scenarios, and considerations for data center network planning. This knowledge will enable participants to evaluate the merits and drawbacks of HCI in a nuanced and informed manner. The training session will accommodate participants with varying skill levels, whether they are beginners or have advanced expertise. Attending this training session will equip participants with the knowledge to navigate hyper-convergent infrastructures' complexities effectively. TechMentor Redmond 2023 July 17-21, 2023 | Washington (US) TechMentor Redmond 2023 is an anticipated technology conference that brings together IT professionals, industry experts, and thought leaders for an immersive learning experience. Set in Redmond, Washington, the heart of the tech industry, it will offer a unique opportunity for participants to engage with leading experts from Microsoft and other prominent technology companies. These sessions will cover a wide range of topics, including cloud computing, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, machine learning, DevOps, data analytics, IoT, and more. With a focus on practical implementation and real-world scenarios, TechMentor Redmond will equip attendees with the skills and knowledge needed to tackle the challenges of today's IT landscape. One of the highlights, is the opportunity to learn directly from industry experts and Microsoft MVPs. Advancing Data Center Construction: West 2023 July 17-19, 2023 | Washington (US) West 2023: Advancing Data Center Construction brings together Washington-to-Arizona clients, contractors, and designers to discuss industry issues. This event will provide a rare opportunity to collaborate and solve project delivery issues caused by tougher restrictions, difficult geographical conditions, supply chain interruption, and workforce shortages, offering hyper converged infrastructure solutions. The event will have sessions from keynote speakers David McCall, Michelle Stuart, Chad Labucki, and Micah Piippo. Hyperconverged Infrastructure events including this event, allow attendees to learn from over 25 hours of world-class content, 12+ hours of networking, and industry leaders like Google, Yondr, Clayco, Microsoft, and McKinstry. Participants will learn to overcome supply chain interruption, streamline approval processes, and enhance efficiency through case studies of breakthrough technology and energy-efficient, sustainable data centers. CIO Cloud Summit July 17, 2023 | Online One of the leading Hyperconverged Infrastructure events, this distinguished event caters to CIOs and IT executives strategically evaluating cloud computing solutions for their organizations. With a dedicated focus on crucial cloud computing issues, including data governance, security, private versus public cloud, and data availability, the summit offers a platform for in-depth discussions and knowledge sharing. Attendees can anticipate a curated agenda with interactive sessions, analyst-led presentations, and an exclusive environment with an average attendance of 50 C-level executives because CDM Media Summits is renowned for its ability to bring together industry leaders, analysts, and solution providers. The event is hosts renowned speakers as Chris Mattmann, Steve Rubinow, Jason Spencer, and Robert DeVito. It is an exceptional opportunity for networking, debating, and gaining insights from the latest industry research. Gartner IT Infrastructure, Operations & Cloud Strategies Conference December 5 – 7, 2023 | Las Vegas (Nevada) The Gartner IT Infrastructure, Operations, & Cloud Strategies Conference 2023 brings together global technology leaders to explore the latest trends, gain objective insights, and exchange best practices. The conference will offer attendees access to nine tracks and seven spotlight tracks, each covering specific focus areas to help I&O leaders create effective pathways for the future while networking with peers. Topics will include innovation, cloud value acceleration, engineering platforms, enhancing operations, evolving at the edge, embedding security, developing skills, transforming leadership and the organization, optimizing costs & value, and more. The event features guest speakers such as Daniel Betts, Arun Chandrasekaran, Hassan Ennaciri, among others, Gartner Magic Quadrant sessions, solution provider sessions, workshops, and facilitated sessions, providing attendees with valuable inspiration, insights, and collaborative problem-solving opportunities. stackconf 2023 September 13-14, 2023 |Berlin (Germany) Being one of the best HCI events, stackconf is a prominent open-source infrastructure event focused on various aspects of CI/CD, containers, hybrid environments, and cloud solutions. It will address the challenges faced by businesses in the rapidly evolving digital landscape, where virtual infrastructures and multi-channel platforms have become the norm. The conference aims to bridge the gap between development, testing, and operations, offering insights and solutions from multiple perspectives. Attendees will be able to stay informed about current and future trends, think creatively, and explore innovative approaches to optimize their IT infrastructure. With a diverse international audience of IT infrastructure specialists, CTOs, CIOs, SREs, system administrators, IT architects, and DevOps engineers, the event stands out for its speaker talks, which offer practical insights instead of vendor pitches, and its emphasis on fostering meaningful discussions and collaboration among participants. DatacenterDynamics (DCD) Connect | London October 2-3, 2023 | London (United Kingdom) DCD Connect | London is a highly anticipated event that brings together leaders and professionals from the data center and cloud infrastructure communities. The event will feature an exhibition floor where leading technology vendors and service providers showcase their latest products, services, and solutions. This will allow attendees to explore and evaluate the latest advancements in hardware, software, infrastructure, cooling systems, power management, and other critical aspects of data center operations. Beyond the knowledge-sharing opportunities, it will promote thought-provoking talks by Dame Dawn Childs, Val Walsh, Michael Winterson among others. Attendees will earn continuing professional development (CPD) credits by attending educational sessions and workshops, enhancing their industry credentials, and demonstrating a commitment to ongoing learning. The event will also provide a platform for career growth, with potential job openings and networking connections within the data center and cloud infrastructure sectors. Key Takeaway The conferences bring together industry experts, IT professionals, engineers, and decision-makers in the network industry. Attendees can expect a comprehensive program consisting of keynote presentations, panel discussions, case studies, and interactive workshops. The listed events will cover a wide range of topics, including the latest trends in data center design, energy efficiency, modular construction, and emerging technologies. Participating in these also offer ample networking opportunities, allowing attendees to connect with peers, share experiences, and establish valuable business connections. Leaders can stay at the forefront of the evolving data center landscape and gain a competitive edge in their respective organizations.

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Hyper-Converged Infrastructure, IT Systems Management

Top Books to Consider for Adoption of Hyper-Converged Infrastructure

Article | September 14, 2023

Discover the list of best hyperconverged infrastructure books and gain knowledge on the latest advancements in HCI and process design & explore areas for HCI improvements in the infrastructure domain. This comprehensive guide presents a curated selection of top books to consider for adopting Hyper-Converged Infrastructure (HCI) in IT infrastructure. Organizations increasingly recognize HCI as a transformative solution that streamlines data center management, enhances scalability, and optimizes resource utilization. To navigate this technology effectively, businesses must equip themselves with the proper knowledge and insights from authoritative sources. The carefully compiled list of books featured here offers valuable information, providing IT professionals and decision-makers with a solid foundation to make informed choices and successfully implement HCI within their IT infrastructure. 1. Hyperconverged Infrastructure Data Centers: Demystifying HCI Author: Sam Halabi Hyperconverged Infrastructure Data Centers: Demystifying HCI is a highly informative and authoritative guide that provides a clear understanding of Hyperconverged Infrastructure technology. Written for technical professionals and IT managers, the book offers a vendor-neutral perspective on HCI, covering its use cases and comparing leading hyperconvergence solutions in the market. Halabi effectively explains HCI's benefits, combining storage, computing, and networking into a single system, offering simplicity, scalability, and flexibility without sacrificing control. The book explores computing, virtualization, and software-defined storage advancements, highlighting the improvements they bring to data center designs. The author guides readers through the HCI lifecycle, including evaluation, planning, implementation, and management. The book also delves into HCI applications such as DevOps, virtual desktops, and disaster recovery, presenting a new application deployment and management model. 2. Hyperconverged Infrastructure: A Complete Guide Author: The Art of Service - Hyperconverged Infrastructure Publishing This book is a valuable resource for individuals and organizations seeking to understand and leverage the potential of hyperconverged infrastructure. This guide takes a question-based approach, empowering readers to uncover challenges and develop effective solutions. The guide provides a comprehensive self-assessment tool covering seven core HCI maturity levels. With updated case-based questions, readers can diagnose their HCI projects, initiatives, organizations, and processes based on accepted diagnostic standards and practices. It helps readers identify areas where HCI improvements can be made and provides a clear picture of the attention those areas require, enabling them to lead their organizations effectively and address what truly matters. It empowers readers to make their HCI investments work better by guiding them through asking the right questions and seeking innovative perspectives. 3. Hyperconverged Infrastructure: Practical Tools for Self-Assessment Author: Gerardus Blokdyk The book is a valuable resource for individuals in diverse business roles seeking to optimize their Hyperconverged infrastructure investments. This comprehensive guide emphasizes the integration of HCI with other business initiatives and the monitoring of HCI activities' effectiveness. The guide emphasizes the use of HCI data and information to support organizational decision-making and foster innovation. One of the strengths of this guide lies in its focus on leveraging HCI data and information for organizational decision-making and innovation. The self-assessment tool helps identify areas for improvement, with case-based questions organized into seven core areas of process design. Nevertheless, this guide equips readers with the necessary tools and insights to maximize the value of HCI investments, align with business objectives, and foster a culture of continuous improvement and innovation. 4. Hyper-converged Infrastructure Standard Requirements Author: Gerardus Blokdyk This book offers individuals various business roles considering or exploring hyper-converged infrastructure implementation. This comprehensive guide emphasizes the importance of asking the right questions and understanding the challenges and hyperconvergence solutions related to HCI. It provides a set of organized case-based questions, enabling readers to diagnose their HCI projects and identify areas for improvement. The self-assessment tool helps organizations implement evidence-based best practices and integrate the latest advancements in HCI and process design. With the Hyper-Converged Infrastructure Scorecard, readers can gain a clear understanding of the areas that require attention and prioritize their efforts accordingly. The digital components accompanying the book provide additional resources to support organizations in their HCI journey. 5. The Gorilla Guide to Hyperconverged Infrastructure Implementation Strategies Author: Scott D. Lowe The Gorilla Guide to Hyperconverged Infrastructure Implementation Strategies is a book designed for strategic planners seeking innovative segmentation methods. This book offers individuals various business roles exploring HCI implementation. It starts with the architecture of hyper-converged architecture, followed by Exploring the Intersection of Software-Defined Networking and HCI. It delved into addressing the pain points and storage performance in HCI, with relevant use cases for practical examples. It covers data-center consolidation, test and development environments, and HCI economics, for its impact on the IT budget. It helps organizations implement evidence-based best practices and integrate the latest advancements in HCI and process design. 6. The 2022 Report on Hyper-Converged Infrastructure: World Market Segmentation by City Author: Prof Philip M. Parker The '2022 Report on Hyper-Converged Infrastructure: World Market Segmentation by City' is a book designed for global strategic planners seeking innovative segmentation methods. This report covers over 2,000 cities across 200 countries, providing insights into the estimated market size (latent demand) of hyper-converged infrastructure in each significant city worldwide. The report ranks these cities based on their market size relative to their respective countries, geographic regions, and global market. The sales of hyper-converged infrastructure encompass a wide range of products, including hypervisors such as VMware, KVM, and Hyper-V, used for various purposes like virtual desktop infrastructure, server virtualization, data protection, and cloud solutions. Prominent companies in the industry, including VMware, Nutanix, Maxta, and others are covered in the report. The information presented is gathered from public sources, including news, press releases, and industry players, and is reported in U.S. dollars without adjusting for inflation. 7. The 2020-2025 World Outlook for Hyper-Converged Infrastructure Author: Prof Philip M. Parker The World Outlook for Hyper-Converged Infrastructure study comprehensively analyzes the global market across more than 190 countries. It offers estimates of the latent demand, or potential industry earnings (P.I.E.), for each country, expressed in millions of U.S. dollars. The report also presents the country's share as a percentage of the region and the global market, enabling readers to assess its relative position. The study generates latent demand estimates using econometric models that project economic dynamics within and between countries. While it does not delve into specific market players or product details, it takes a strategic, long-term perspective, disregarding short-term cyclical fluctuations and focusing on aggregated trends. A multi-stage methodology, often taught in graduate business courses on international strategic planning, was employed to formulate these estimates. Wrap-up The adoption of Hyper-Converged Infrastructure represents a significant opportunity for businesses to revolutionize their IT infrastructure, improve operational efficiency, and unlock new levels of agility and scalability. The books recommended in this listicle serve as indispensable resources for IT professionals and decision-makers seeking to embark on an HCI journey. By investing in the knowledge imparted by these authoritative texts, you empower yourself and your organization to leverage the full potential of HCI and stay at the forefront of technological advancements. Remember, success in adopting HCI lies not only in the technology itself but also in the understanding and expertise gained through continuous learning and exploration.

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The world is ready for 5G. Are you?

Article | June 3, 2021

At last, the wait for 5G is nearly over. As this map shows, coverage is widespread across much of the U.S., in 24 EU countries, and in pockets around the globe. The new wireless standard is worth the wait. Compared to 4G, the new wireless standard can move more data from the edge, with less latency. And connect many more users and devices—an important development given that the IDC estimates 152,000 new Internet of Things (IoT) devices per minute by 2025. Put it together, and 5G is a game-changing backhaul for public networks. (Wi-Fi 6, often mentioned in the same breath as 5G, is generally used for private WANs.

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Hyper-Converged Infrastructure, Application Infrastructure

Designing an Advanced Data Center for Hyper-Converged Infrastructure

Article | July 19, 2023

Building trust through HCI by unveiling strategies to ensure the long-term reliability of technology partnerships, cementing lasting collaborations in a dynamic business landscape through vendor stability. Contents 1. Introduction 2. How HCI Overcomes Infrastructural Challenges 3. Evaluation Criteria for Enterprise HCI 3.1. Distributed Storage Layer 3.2. Data Security 3.3. Data Reduction 4. Assessing Vendor Stability: Ensuring Long-Term Reliability of Partners 4.1. Vendor Track Record 4.2. Financial Stability 4.3. Customer Base and References 4.4. Product Roadmap and Innovation 4.5. Support and Maintenance 4.6. Partnerships and Ecosystem 4.7. Industry Recognition and Analyst Reports 4.8. Contracts and SLAs 5. Final Takeaway 1. Introduction When collaborating with a vendor, it is essential to evaluate their financial stability. This ensures that they are able to fulfil their obligations and deliver the promised services or goods. Prior to making contractual commitments, it is necessary to conduct due diligence to determine a vendor's financial health. This article examines when a vendor's financial viability must be evaluated, why to do so, and how vendor and contract management software can assist businesses. IT organizations of all sizes face numerous infrastructure difficulties. On one hand, they frequently receive urgent demands from the business to keep their organization agile and proactive while implementing new digital transformation initiatives. They also struggle to keep their budget under control, provide new resources swiftly, and manage the increasing complexity while maintaining a reasonable level of efficiency. For many organizations, a cloud-only IT strategy is not a viable option; as a result, there is a growing interest in hybrid scenarios that offer the best of both realms. By combining cloud and traditional IT infrastructures, there is a real danger of creating silos, going in the incorrect direction, and further complicating the overall infrastructure, thereby introducing inefficiencies. 2. How HCI Overcomes Infrastructural Challenges Hyper-converged infrastructures (HCI) surpass conventional infrastructures in terms of simplicity and adaptability. HCI enables organizations to conceal the complexity of their IT infrastructure while reaping the benefits of a cloud-like environment. HCI simplifies operations and facilitates the migration of on-premises data and applications to the cloud. HCI is a software-defined solution that abstracts and organizes CPU, memory, networking, and storage devices as resource pools, typically utilizing commodity x86-based hardware and virtualization software. It enables the administrator to rapidly combine and provision these resources as virtual machines and, more recently, as independent storage resources such as network-attached storage (NAS) filers and object stores. Management operations are also simplified, allowing for an increase in infrastructure productivity while reducing the number of operators and system administrators per virtual machine managed. HCI market and itssolutions can be categorized into three groups: Enterprise Solutions They have an extensive feature set, high scalability, core-to-cloud integrations, and tools that extend beyond traditional virtualization platform management and up the application stack. Small/Medium Enterprise Solutions Comparable to the previous category, but simplified and more affordable. The emphasis remains on simplifying the IT infrastructure for virtualized environments, with limited core-to-cloud integrations and a limited ecosystem of solutions. Vertical Solutions Designed for particular use cases or vertical markets, they are highly competitive in edge-cloud or edge-core deployments, but typically have a limited ecosystem of solutions. These solutions incorporate open-source hypervisors, such as KVM, to provide end-to-end support at lower costs. They are typically not very scalable, but they are efficient from a resource consumption standpoint. 3. Evaluation Criteria for Enterprise HCI 3.1 Distributed Storage Layer The distributed storage layer provides primary data storage service for virtual machines and is a crucial component of every HCI solution. Depending on the exposed protocol, they are typically presented as a virtual network-attached storage (NAS) or storage area network (SAN) and contain all of the data. There are three distributed storage layer approaches for HCI: Virtual storage appliance (VSA): A virtual machine administered by the same hypervisor as the other virtual machines in the node. A VSA is more flexible and can typically support multiple hypervisors, but this method may result in increased latency. Integrated within the hypervisor or the Operating System (OS): The storage layer is an extension of the hypervisor and does not require the preceding approach's components (VM and guest OS). The tight integration boosts overall performance, enhances workload telemetry, and fully exploits hypervisor characteristics, but the storage layer is not portable. Specialized storage nodes: The distributed storage layer is comprised of specialized nodes in order to achieve optimal performance consistency and scalability for both internal and external storage consumption. This strategy, which is typically more expensive than the alternatives for lesser configurations, is utilized. 3.2 Data Security Currently, all vendors offer sophisticated data protection against multiple failures, such as full node, single, and multiple-component issues. Distributed erasure coding safeguards information by balancing performance and data footprint efficiency. This equilibrium is made possible by modern CPUs with sophisticated instruction sets, new hardware such as NVMe and storage-class memory (SCM) devices, and data path optimizations. In addition, the evolution of storage technologies has played a pivotal role in enhancing data protection strategies. The introduction of high-capacity SSDs (Solid-State Drives) and advancements in storage virtualization have further strengthened the ability to withstand failures and ensure uninterrupted data availability. These technological innovations, combined with the relentless pursuit of redundancy and fault tolerance, have elevated the resilience of modern data storage systems. Furthermore, for data protection and security, compliance with rules, regulations, and laws is paramount. Governments and regulatory bodies across the globe have established stringent frameworks to safeguard sensitive information and ensure privacy. Adherence to laws such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in Europe, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) in the United States, and various industry-specific regulations is non-negotiable. Organizations must fortify their data against technical vulnerabilities and align their practices with legal requirements to prevent costly fines, legal repercussions, and reputational damage. 3.3 Data Reduction Optimization of the data footprint is a crucial aspect of hyper-converged infrastructures. Deduplication, compression, and other techniques, such as thin provisioning, can significantly improve capacity utilization in virtualized environments, particularly for Virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) use cases. Moreover, in order to optimize rack space utilization and achieve server balance, the number of storage devices that can be deployed on a single HCI node is restricted. 4. Assessing Vendor Stability: Ensuring Long-Term Reliability of Partners Here are some key factors that contribute to ensuring long-term reliability: 4.1 Vendor Track Record Assessing the vendor's track record and reputation in the industry is crucial. Look for established vendors with a history of delivering reliable products and services. A vendor that has been operating in the market for a significant period of time and has a strong customer base indicates stability. 4.2 Financial Stability Consider factors such as the vendor's profitability, revenue growth, and ability to invest in research and development. Financial stability ensures the vendor's ability to support their products and services over the long term. 4.3 Customer Base and References Look at the size and diversity of the vendor's customer base. A large and satisfied customer base indicates that the vendor's solutions have been adopted successfully by organizations. Request references from existing customers to get insights into their experience with the vendor's stability and support. 4.4 Product Roadmap and Innovation Assess the vendor's product roadmap and commitment to ongoing innovation. A vendor that actively invests in research and development, regularly updates their products, and introduces new features and enhancements demonstrates a long-term commitment to their solution's reliability and advancement. 4.5 Support and Maintenance Evaluate the vendor's support and maintenance services. Look for comprehensive support offerings, including timely bug fixes, security patches, and firmware updates. Understand the vendor's service-level agreements (SLAs), response times, and availability of technical support to ensure they can address any issues that may arise. 4.6 Partnerships and Ecosystem Consider the vendor's partnerships and ecosystem. A strong network of partners, including technology alliances and integrations with other industry-leading vendors, can contribute to long-term reliability. Partnerships demonstrate collaboration, interoperability, and a wider ecosystem that enhances the vendor's solution. 4.7 Industry Recognition and Analyst Reports Assess the vendor's industry recognition and performance in analyst reports. Look for accolades, awards, and positive evaluations from reputable industry analysts. These assessments provide independent validation of the vendor's stability and the reliability of their HCI solution. 4.8 Contracts and SLAs Review the vendor's contracts, service-level agreements, and warranties carefully. Ensure they provide appropriate guarantees for support, maintenance, and ongoing product updates throughout the expected lifecycle of the HCI solution. 5. Final Takeaway Evaluating a vendor's financial stability is crucial before entering into contractual commitments to ensure their ability to fulfill obligations. Hyper-converged infrastructure overcomes infrastructural challenges by simplifying operations, enabling cloud-like environments, and facilitating data and application migration. The HCI market offers enterprise, small/medium enterprise, and vertical solutions, each catering to different needs and requirements. Analysing enterprise HCI solutions requires careful consideration of various criteria. Each approach has its own advantages and considerations related to flexibility, performance, and cost. The mentioned techniques can significantly reduce the data footprint, particularly in use cases like VDI, while maintaining performance and efficiency. Organizations take decisions that align with their specific storage, security, and efficiency requirements by considering the evaluation criteria for enterprise HCI solutions. By considering these factors, organizations can make informed decisions and choose a vendor with a strong foundation of reliability, stability, and long-term commitment, ensuring the durability of their HCI infrastructure and minimizing risks associated with vendor instability.

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Hyper-Converged Infrastructure, Windows Systems and Network

Choosing the Right Tools for Hyper-Converged Management and Orchestration

Article | July 11, 2023

Hyperconverged Infrastructure (HCI) is a critical aspect of the ever-evolving infrastructure industry, helping ensure efficient and secure operation. It involves the continuous surveillance, analysis, and management of the digitalization in manufacturing, performance, and efficiency. To stay ahead of the latest advancements in this industry, executives and managers must attend the upcoming conferences scheduled for 2023. These events provide a crucial platform for professionals to gain in-depth insights into emerging trends, innovative technologies, and best practices. Basics and Operation of Hyperconverged Infrastructure November 21, 2023 | Online Attend the training session on hyper convergent infrastructure led by Dr. Markus Ermes. This session will address hyper-convergent infrastructure questions, including appliances or software, central data centers or smaller locations, and established manufacturers or challengers. During the training session, this Hyperconverged Infrastructure conference allows participants to gain insights into software-defined storage, the critical properties of storage technologies, changes in backup and recovery scenarios, and considerations for data center network planning. This knowledge will enable participants to evaluate the merits and drawbacks of HCI in a nuanced and informed manner. The training session will accommodate participants with varying skill levels, whether they are beginners or have advanced expertise. Attending this training session will equip participants with the knowledge to navigate hyper-convergent infrastructures' complexities effectively. TechMentor Redmond 2023 July 17-21, 2023 | Washington (US) TechMentor Redmond 2023 is an anticipated technology conference that brings together IT professionals, industry experts, and thought leaders for an immersive learning experience. Set in Redmond, Washington, the heart of the tech industry, it will offer a unique opportunity for participants to engage with leading experts from Microsoft and other prominent technology companies. These sessions will cover a wide range of topics, including cloud computing, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, machine learning, DevOps, data analytics, IoT, and more. With a focus on practical implementation and real-world scenarios, TechMentor Redmond will equip attendees with the skills and knowledge needed to tackle the challenges of today's IT landscape. One of the highlights, is the opportunity to learn directly from industry experts and Microsoft MVPs. Advancing Data Center Construction: West 2023 July 17-19, 2023 | Washington (US) West 2023: Advancing Data Center Construction brings together Washington-to-Arizona clients, contractors, and designers to discuss industry issues. This event will provide a rare opportunity to collaborate and solve project delivery issues caused by tougher restrictions, difficult geographical conditions, supply chain interruption, and workforce shortages, offering hyper converged infrastructure solutions. The event will have sessions from keynote speakers David McCall, Michelle Stuart, Chad Labucki, and Micah Piippo. Hyperconverged Infrastructure events including this event, allow attendees to learn from over 25 hours of world-class content, 12+ hours of networking, and industry leaders like Google, Yondr, Clayco, Microsoft, and McKinstry. Participants will learn to overcome supply chain interruption, streamline approval processes, and enhance efficiency through case studies of breakthrough technology and energy-efficient, sustainable data centers. CIO Cloud Summit July 17, 2023 | Online One of the leading Hyperconverged Infrastructure events, this distinguished event caters to CIOs and IT executives strategically evaluating cloud computing solutions for their organizations. With a dedicated focus on crucial cloud computing issues, including data governance, security, private versus public cloud, and data availability, the summit offers a platform for in-depth discussions and knowledge sharing. Attendees can anticipate a curated agenda with interactive sessions, analyst-led presentations, and an exclusive environment with an average attendance of 50 C-level executives because CDM Media Summits is renowned for its ability to bring together industry leaders, analysts, and solution providers. The event is hosts renowned speakers as Chris Mattmann, Steve Rubinow, Jason Spencer, and Robert DeVito. It is an exceptional opportunity for networking, debating, and gaining insights from the latest industry research. Gartner IT Infrastructure, Operations & Cloud Strategies Conference December 5 – 7, 2023 | Las Vegas (Nevada) The Gartner IT Infrastructure, Operations, & Cloud Strategies Conference 2023 brings together global technology leaders to explore the latest trends, gain objective insights, and exchange best practices. The conference will offer attendees access to nine tracks and seven spotlight tracks, each covering specific focus areas to help I&O leaders create effective pathways for the future while networking with peers. Topics will include innovation, cloud value acceleration, engineering platforms, enhancing operations, evolving at the edge, embedding security, developing skills, transforming leadership and the organization, optimizing costs & value, and more. The event features guest speakers such as Daniel Betts, Arun Chandrasekaran, Hassan Ennaciri, among others, Gartner Magic Quadrant sessions, solution provider sessions, workshops, and facilitated sessions, providing attendees with valuable inspiration, insights, and collaborative problem-solving opportunities. stackconf 2023 September 13-14, 2023 |Berlin (Germany) Being one of the best HCI events, stackconf is a prominent open-source infrastructure event focused on various aspects of CI/CD, containers, hybrid environments, and cloud solutions. It will address the challenges faced by businesses in the rapidly evolving digital landscape, where virtual infrastructures and multi-channel platforms have become the norm. The conference aims to bridge the gap between development, testing, and operations, offering insights and solutions from multiple perspectives. Attendees will be able to stay informed about current and future trends, think creatively, and explore innovative approaches to optimize their IT infrastructure. With a diverse international audience of IT infrastructure specialists, CTOs, CIOs, SREs, system administrators, IT architects, and DevOps engineers, the event stands out for its speaker talks, which offer practical insights instead of vendor pitches, and its emphasis on fostering meaningful discussions and collaboration among participants. DatacenterDynamics (DCD) Connect | London October 2-3, 2023 | London (United Kingdom) DCD Connect | London is a highly anticipated event that brings together leaders and professionals from the data center and cloud infrastructure communities. The event will feature an exhibition floor where leading technology vendors and service providers showcase their latest products, services, and solutions. This will allow attendees to explore and evaluate the latest advancements in hardware, software, infrastructure, cooling systems, power management, and other critical aspects of data center operations. Beyond the knowledge-sharing opportunities, it will promote thought-provoking talks by Dame Dawn Childs, Val Walsh, Michael Winterson among others. Attendees will earn continuing professional development (CPD) credits by attending educational sessions and workshops, enhancing their industry credentials, and demonstrating a commitment to ongoing learning. The event will also provide a platform for career growth, with potential job openings and networking connections within the data center and cloud infrastructure sectors. Key Takeaway The conferences bring together industry experts, IT professionals, engineers, and decision-makers in the network industry. Attendees can expect a comprehensive program consisting of keynote presentations, panel discussions, case studies, and interactive workshops. The listed events will cover a wide range of topics, including the latest trends in data center design, energy efficiency, modular construction, and emerging technologies. Participating in these also offer ample networking opportunities, allowing attendees to connect with peers, share experiences, and establish valuable business connections. Leaders can stay at the forefront of the evolving data center landscape and gain a competitive edge in their respective organizations.

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Hyper-Converged Infrastructure, IT Systems Management

How Managed Service Providers Drive Management in HCI

Article | September 14, 2023

Discover the list of best hyperconverged infrastructure books and gain knowledge on the latest advancements in HCI and process design & explore areas for HCI improvements in the infrastructure domain. This comprehensive guide presents a curated selection of top books to consider for adopting Hyper-Converged Infrastructure (HCI) in IT infrastructure. Organizations increasingly recognize HCI as a transformative solution that streamlines data center management, enhances scalability, and optimizes resource utilization. To navigate this technology effectively, businesses must equip themselves with the proper knowledge and insights from authoritative sources. The carefully compiled list of books featured here offers valuable information, providing IT professionals and decision-makers with a solid foundation to make informed choices and successfully implement HCI within their IT infrastructure. 1. Hyperconverged Infrastructure Data Centers: Demystifying HCI Author: Sam Halabi Hyperconverged Infrastructure Data Centers: Demystifying HCI is a highly informative and authoritative guide that provides a clear understanding of Hyperconverged Infrastructure technology. Written for technical professionals and IT managers, the book offers a vendor-neutral perspective on HCI, covering its use cases and comparing leading hyperconvergence solutions in the market. Halabi effectively explains HCI's benefits, combining storage, computing, and networking into a single system, offering simplicity, scalability, and flexibility without sacrificing control. The book explores computing, virtualization, and software-defined storage advancements, highlighting the improvements they bring to data center designs. The author guides readers through the HCI lifecycle, including evaluation, planning, implementation, and management. The book also delves into HCI applications such as DevOps, virtual desktops, and disaster recovery, presenting a new application deployment and management model. 2. Hyperconverged Infrastructure: A Complete Guide Author: The Art of Service - Hyperconverged Infrastructure Publishing This book is a valuable resource for individuals and organizations seeking to understand and leverage the potential of hyperconverged infrastructure. This guide takes a question-based approach, empowering readers to uncover challenges and develop effective solutions. The guide provides a comprehensive self-assessment tool covering seven core HCI maturity levels. With updated case-based questions, readers can diagnose their HCI projects, initiatives, organizations, and processes based on accepted diagnostic standards and practices. It helps readers identify areas where HCI improvements can be made and provides a clear picture of the attention those areas require, enabling them to lead their organizations effectively and address what truly matters. It empowers readers to make their HCI investments work better by guiding them through asking the right questions and seeking innovative perspectives. 3. Hyperconverged Infrastructure: Practical Tools for Self-Assessment Author: Gerardus Blokdyk The book is a valuable resource for individuals in diverse business roles seeking to optimize their Hyperconverged infrastructure investments. This comprehensive guide emphasizes the integration of HCI with other business initiatives and the monitoring of HCI activities' effectiveness. The guide emphasizes the use of HCI data and information to support organizational decision-making and foster innovation. One of the strengths of this guide lies in its focus on leveraging HCI data and information for organizational decision-making and innovation. The self-assessment tool helps identify areas for improvement, with case-based questions organized into seven core areas of process design. Nevertheless, this guide equips readers with the necessary tools and insights to maximize the value of HCI investments, align with business objectives, and foster a culture of continuous improvement and innovation. 4. Hyper-converged Infrastructure Standard Requirements Author: Gerardus Blokdyk This book offers individuals various business roles considering or exploring hyper-converged infrastructure implementation. This comprehensive guide emphasizes the importance of asking the right questions and understanding the challenges and hyperconvergence solutions related to HCI. It provides a set of organized case-based questions, enabling readers to diagnose their HCI projects and identify areas for improvement. The self-assessment tool helps organizations implement evidence-based best practices and integrate the latest advancements in HCI and process design. With the Hyper-Converged Infrastructure Scorecard, readers can gain a clear understanding of the areas that require attention and prioritize their efforts accordingly. The digital components accompanying the book provide additional resources to support organizations in their HCI journey. 5. The Gorilla Guide to Hyperconverged Infrastructure Implementation Strategies Author: Scott D. Lowe The Gorilla Guide to Hyperconverged Infrastructure Implementation Strategies is a book designed for strategic planners seeking innovative segmentation methods. This book offers individuals various business roles exploring HCI implementation. It starts with the architecture of hyper-converged architecture, followed by Exploring the Intersection of Software-Defined Networking and HCI. It delved into addressing the pain points and storage performance in HCI, with relevant use cases for practical examples. It covers data-center consolidation, test and development environments, and HCI economics, for its impact on the IT budget. It helps organizations implement evidence-based best practices and integrate the latest advancements in HCI and process design. 6. The 2022 Report on Hyper-Converged Infrastructure: World Market Segmentation by City Author: Prof Philip M. Parker The '2022 Report on Hyper-Converged Infrastructure: World Market Segmentation by City' is a book designed for global strategic planners seeking innovative segmentation methods. This report covers over 2,000 cities across 200 countries, providing insights into the estimated market size (latent demand) of hyper-converged infrastructure in each significant city worldwide. The report ranks these cities based on their market size relative to their respective countries, geographic regions, and global market. The sales of hyper-converged infrastructure encompass a wide range of products, including hypervisors such as VMware, KVM, and Hyper-V, used for various purposes like virtual desktop infrastructure, server virtualization, data protection, and cloud solutions. Prominent companies in the industry, including VMware, Nutanix, Maxta, and others are covered in the report. The information presented is gathered from public sources, including news, press releases, and industry players, and is reported in U.S. dollars without adjusting for inflation. 7. The 2020-2025 World Outlook for Hyper-Converged Infrastructure Author: Prof Philip M. Parker The World Outlook for Hyper-Converged Infrastructure study comprehensively analyzes the global market across more than 190 countries. It offers estimates of the latent demand, or potential industry earnings (P.I.E.), for each country, expressed in millions of U.S. dollars. The report also presents the country's share as a percentage of the region and the global market, enabling readers to assess its relative position. The study generates latent demand estimates using econometric models that project economic dynamics within and between countries. While it does not delve into specific market players or product details, it takes a strategic, long-term perspective, disregarding short-term cyclical fluctuations and focusing on aggregated trends. A multi-stage methodology, often taught in graduate business courses on international strategic planning, was employed to formulate these estimates. Wrap-up The adoption of Hyper-Converged Infrastructure represents a significant opportunity for businesses to revolutionize their IT infrastructure, improve operational efficiency, and unlock new levels of agility and scalability. The books recommended in this listicle serve as indispensable resources for IT professionals and decision-makers seeking to embark on an HCI journey. By investing in the knowledge imparted by these authoritative texts, you empower yourself and your organization to leverage the full potential of HCI and stay at the forefront of technological advancements. Remember, success in adopting HCI lies not only in the technology itself but also in the understanding and expertise gained through continuous learning and exploration.

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The world is ready for 5G. Are you?

Article | June 3, 2021

At last, the wait for 5G is nearly over. As this map shows, coverage is widespread across much of the U.S., in 24 EU countries, and in pockets around the globe. The new wireless standard is worth the wait. Compared to 4G, the new wireless standard can move more data from the edge, with less latency. And connect many more users and devices—an important development given that the IDC estimates 152,000 new Internet of Things (IoT) devices per minute by 2025. Put it together, and 5G is a game-changing backhaul for public networks. (Wi-Fi 6, often mentioned in the same breath as 5G, is generally used for private WANs.

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Application Infrastructure

Fastly Launches “Fast Forward” Initiative to Support Open Source and Internet Infrastructure

Fastly | November 10, 2022

Fastly, Inc., the world’s fastest global edge cloud platform, today announced the relaunch of its industry-leading Open Source and Nonprofit Program as “Fast Forward,” with a renewed focus on building community among the builders and maintainers of an internet that is faster, safer, and more inclusive. The announcement was made at Altitude, Fastly’s annual flagship customer conference. Fast Forward is a set of broad-reaching programs designed to empower and support open source projects, nonprofit organizations, and developers in their endeavors to build great things with unmatched ease, performance, and security. Extending Fastly’s deep commitment to open source, Fast Forward will offer free services to open source projects and the nonprofits that support them. Fast Forward will also establish and foster a community of these stakeholders so they can interact with and learn from one another, as well as with the broader developer and open source community. Fast Forward stems from Fastly’s mission to help make the internet a better place, where all experiences are fast, engaging, and safe. At its core, Fastly is driven to be part of an industry that is open, transparent and collaborative – working together to expand and preserve resilience, portability, and interoperability. Fastly believes companies that operate at a global scale are responsible for contributing their expertise to the communal body of knowledge which makes up the open internet: standards, protocols, open source technology, and policies. “Providing Fastly’s best in class services to open source projects and standards initiatives has the power to drive our shared mission of making the internet a better place, It’s important for us to support the organizations that fuel Internet innovation” -Fastly CEO Todd Nightingale Fast Forward is just one element of Fastly’s rich heritage in open source and open standards: Fastly is a founding member of the Bytecode Alliance along with Red Hat, Mozilla, and Intel; works alongside industry partners such as Microsoft, Google, and Apple and more to contribute to Private Access Tokens; and encourages its employees to contribute to open source through projects like Pushpin, WAF Efficacy, and more – just to name a few initiatives. Fastly also has a long-standing policy for its customer community, and only works with customers and partners who reflect Fastly’s values. There’s so much great creativity on the internet that’s inspiring but doesn’t always have the support it deserves, Fast Forward is Fastly’s commitment to helping everyone build a better internet. From open source technologies, to the fundamental protocols and standards that make the internet go, we’re telling every developer and every creator that we’ve got their backs, no matter what technologies, tools or stacks they use. We can’t wait to see how they use that potential to build and scale an even better internet,said Anil Dash, VP of Developer Experience at Fastly. Fastly’s investment in open source has provided valuable support to organizations like the Rust Software Foundation, the Apache Software Foundation, and the Scratch Foundation. Their leaders talk about the benefits they get from Fastly’s Fast Forward Program: Joel Marcey, Director of Operations and Advocacy at the Rust Foundation, said, As a non-profit organization supporting the Rust Project, the Rust Foundation believes the future of software development is looking brighter every day thanks to Rust's inherent benefits such as memory safety, energy efficiency, and scalability. But for the Rust Project to meet the demands of its growing popularity, diversified and cost-effective infrastructure is critical. The Rust Foundation is grateful to be included in the Fast Forward program, which will allow the Rust Project to harness Fastly's full-site delivery and powerful Compute@Edge platform at no cost. It's partnerships like these that will contribute to the growth and sustainability of Rust into the future. Daniel Gruno, Infrastructure Architect at the Apache Foundation, said, Fastly's sponsorship allowed The Apache Software Foundation to replace a complicated mirror infrastructure with a simple content delivery network (CDN) that is largely transparent to our projects and users. In addition, it's allowed the Infrastructure team to spend less time on our distribution network and more time on higher value projects for the foundation. Colby Gutierrez-Kraybill, Principal Software Engineer at Scratch Foundation, said, Thanks to Fastly's global reach and ongoing support, we are able to fulfill our mission at the Scratch Foundation of providing young people all over the world with digital tools and opportunities to imagine, create, share, and learn. We are grateful for Fastly's partnership, allowing us to stay flexible and agile as our platforms Scratch and ScratchJr grow globally as leading creative learning tools. To qualify for free services through the Fast Forward Program, members must freely distribute their codebase and align with Fastly’s open source values: open, community oriented, inclusive, friendly to new contributors, and built on trust. If accepted, they in turn commit to sharing knowledge and resources with the Fast Forward community and beyond. About Fastly Fastly’s powerful and programmable edge cloud platform helps the world’s top brands deliver the fastest online experiences possible, while improving site performance, enhancing security, and empowering innovation at global scale. With world-class support that achieves 95%+ average annual customer satisfaction ratings, Fastly’s beloved suite of edge compute, delivery, and security offerings has been recognized as a leader by industry analysts such as IDC, Forrester and Gartner. Compared to legacy providers, Fastly’s powerful and modern network architecture is the fastest on the planet, empowering developers to deliver secure websites and apps at global scale with rapid time-to-market and industry-leading cost savings. Thousands of the world’s most prominent organizations trust Fastly to help them upgrade the internet experience, including Reddit, Pinterest, Stripe, Neiman Marcus, The New York Times, Epic Games, and GitHub.

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Hyper-Converged Infrastructure, Application Infrastructure

Evocative Signs Definitive Agreement to Acquire 9 INAP Data Centers

Evocative | September 15, 2022

Evocative, a global provider of Internet infrastructure, announces today its intent to acquire the majority of INAP’s data center facilities. The acquisition will consist of 9 data centers, including colocation and related network services. The acquisition of INAP’s data centers adds to Evocative’s existing data center footprint with new facilities in Boston, New Jersey, Atlanta, Dallas, Los Angeles (2), Silicon Valley (2), and Seattle. With the facilities acquired from INAP, Evocative’s portfolio increases to 20 operating data center colocation facilities and 60+ global Points of Presence. In addition to the data center asset acquisition, Evocative also plans to welcome several INAP employees associated with the INAP data center business to the Evocative team. In doing so, the company will grow by 30%. The acquisition is expected to close within the next few weeks, bringing Evocative’s data center presence to: 20 carrier neutral Tier II and Tier III data centers in the United States 1,080,000 square feet of data center space with significant expansion space 108 MW of available power with an additional 25% expansion capability Over 500+ carriers across the portfolio including direct public cloud on-ramps 2,000+ carrier, content, and enterprise clients “Foremost, we welcome our new clients and employees to Evocative. We are honored and humbled to be your new partner. We are excited to share the strength of Evocative's digital infrastructure capabilities with our clients. “We know the importance of enterprise digital enablement. We built a company that offers a comprehensive suite of solutions from the physical foundation up the stack to enable the delivery of highly secure, hosted data services,” Khalili added. Arman Khalili, Founder and CEO of Evocative With organic growth and its acquisition strategy further advanced by the INAP data center purchase, Evocative has emerged as a leading enterprise digital infrastructure provider. Evocative is well positioned to continue its exponential growth with a clear focus on providing best-in-class IT infrastructure and a full suite of services. The acquisition is expected to close in Q3, 2022, following the standard closing process. About Evocative Evocative is a global leader in enterprise-class data center, bare metal, network, cloud, and managed services solutions that enable exceptional digital experiences. Evocative’s global footprint includes interconnected data centers and points of presence supporting over 68,000 servers across strategically located metros in North America, Europe, and Asia regions. Through organic growth and strategic acquisition, the company continues to expand its presence to power enterprise workloads at the edge. Evocative is dedicated to helping drive digital businesses forward, now and in the decades to come.

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Hyper-Converged Infrastructure, Application Infrastructure

VPLS, an Evocative Company, Fortifies Management Team to Empower Enterprise Digital Infrastructure Growth

VPLS | August 23, 2022

VPLS, an Evocative company and a global provider of Internet infrastructure, data center, and managed services, announces today that it has expanded its leadership team, setting its sights on enabling enterprises with access to a full suite of digital transformation solutions including colocation, network, bare metal, cloud and managed services. VPLS added three core members to its management team including Mark Hassman, Vice President of Systems; Renée Lawrence, Vice President, Global Marketing; and Steve Rubin, Vice President of Network Engineering. Mark, Renée, and Steve bring complementary digital infrastructure experience to the company, fortifying operations, product and service capabilities, marketing, and customer experience for VPLS’s global roster of customers. “VPLS has experienced tremendous growth in these past few years. “In 2019, Evocative acquired VPLS and its full suite of enterprise-class solutions including Internet, multi-cloud and hybrid cloud solutions, and managed services, followed by the acquisition of facilities in Dallas and in Silicon Valley. As we bring together additional team members with proven track records of successfully integrating and innovating enhanced infrastructure solutions for the enterprise, our organization is well positioned to empower future generations of digital solutions.” Arman Khalili, CEO of VPLS Mark Hassman brings more than 25 years of Internet technology experience to his role as Vice President, Systems at VPLS. Commenting on his new role, Hassman states, “I’m pleased to bring the cumulation of my experience in systems architecture, automation, and infrastructure services to VPLS. Our colocation solutions, combined with our broad data center footprint, global network backbone, capabilities for private, public, and hybrid cloud, and managed services offer companies exceptional options for their evolving digital infrastructure requirements.” Renée Lawrence is a corporate communications and brand strategist joining the team as Vice President, Global Marketing. She brings to this role extensive experience in product and solutions marketing, product management, partner program development, digital marketing, and competitive insights and analytics. Lawrence remarks, “I am very happy to be joining the team at VPLS. It’s an exciting time for our organization and I’m looking forward to bringing our brand and our product and services portfolio into this next phase of our growth.” Steve Rubin’s more than 30 years of experience in the digital infrastructure industry brings core backbone engineering, data center connectivity, hardware, software, and cloud interconnection expertise to his role as Vice President of Network Engineering. Remarking on his new role, Rubin said, “I am thrilled to be fortifying the VPLS network infrastructure as we focus on scale and security. Our clients are confronted with challenging network and security decisions and it’s an honor to be a trusted partner, advisor and resource.” About VPLS VPLS, an Evocative company, is a global leader in enterprise-class data center, bare metal, network, cloud, and managed services solutions that enable exceptional digital experiences. VPLS’s global footprint includes 18 data centers supporting over 68,000 servers across strategically located metros in North America, Europe, and Asia regions. Through a series of acquisitions including VPLS, assets from Carrier-1 Data Centers, Wave Broadband, and more, the company continues to expand its presence to power enterprise workloads at the edge. VPLS is dedicated to helping to drive digital businesses forward, both now and in the decades to come. VPLS is a brand under its parent company, EVODC LLC.

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Application Infrastructure

Fastly Launches “Fast Forward” Initiative to Support Open Source and Internet Infrastructure

Fastly | November 10, 2022

Fastly, Inc., the world’s fastest global edge cloud platform, today announced the relaunch of its industry-leading Open Source and Nonprofit Program as “Fast Forward,” with a renewed focus on building community among the builders and maintainers of an internet that is faster, safer, and more inclusive. The announcement was made at Altitude, Fastly’s annual flagship customer conference. Fast Forward is a set of broad-reaching programs designed to empower and support open source projects, nonprofit organizations, and developers in their endeavors to build great things with unmatched ease, performance, and security. Extending Fastly’s deep commitment to open source, Fast Forward will offer free services to open source projects and the nonprofits that support them. Fast Forward will also establish and foster a community of these stakeholders so they can interact with and learn from one another, as well as with the broader developer and open source community. Fast Forward stems from Fastly’s mission to help make the internet a better place, where all experiences are fast, engaging, and safe. At its core, Fastly is driven to be part of an industry that is open, transparent and collaborative – working together to expand and preserve resilience, portability, and interoperability. Fastly believes companies that operate at a global scale are responsible for contributing their expertise to the communal body of knowledge which makes up the open internet: standards, protocols, open source technology, and policies. “Providing Fastly’s best in class services to open source projects and standards initiatives has the power to drive our shared mission of making the internet a better place, It’s important for us to support the organizations that fuel Internet innovation” -Fastly CEO Todd Nightingale Fast Forward is just one element of Fastly’s rich heritage in open source and open standards: Fastly is a founding member of the Bytecode Alliance along with Red Hat, Mozilla, and Intel; works alongside industry partners such as Microsoft, Google, and Apple and more to contribute to Private Access Tokens; and encourages its employees to contribute to open source through projects like Pushpin, WAF Efficacy, and more – just to name a few initiatives. Fastly also has a long-standing policy for its customer community, and only works with customers and partners who reflect Fastly’s values. There’s so much great creativity on the internet that’s inspiring but doesn’t always have the support it deserves, Fast Forward is Fastly’s commitment to helping everyone build a better internet. From open source technologies, to the fundamental protocols and standards that make the internet go, we’re telling every developer and every creator that we’ve got their backs, no matter what technologies, tools or stacks they use. We can’t wait to see how they use that potential to build and scale an even better internet,said Anil Dash, VP of Developer Experience at Fastly. Fastly’s investment in open source has provided valuable support to organizations like the Rust Software Foundation, the Apache Software Foundation, and the Scratch Foundation. Their leaders talk about the benefits they get from Fastly’s Fast Forward Program: Joel Marcey, Director of Operations and Advocacy at the Rust Foundation, said, As a non-profit organization supporting the Rust Project, the Rust Foundation believes the future of software development is looking brighter every day thanks to Rust's inherent benefits such as memory safety, energy efficiency, and scalability. But for the Rust Project to meet the demands of its growing popularity, diversified and cost-effective infrastructure is critical. The Rust Foundation is grateful to be included in the Fast Forward program, which will allow the Rust Project to harness Fastly's full-site delivery and powerful Compute@Edge platform at no cost. It's partnerships like these that will contribute to the growth and sustainability of Rust into the future. Daniel Gruno, Infrastructure Architect at the Apache Foundation, said, Fastly's sponsorship allowed The Apache Software Foundation to replace a complicated mirror infrastructure with a simple content delivery network (CDN) that is largely transparent to our projects and users. In addition, it's allowed the Infrastructure team to spend less time on our distribution network and more time on higher value projects for the foundation. Colby Gutierrez-Kraybill, Principal Software Engineer at Scratch Foundation, said, Thanks to Fastly's global reach and ongoing support, we are able to fulfill our mission at the Scratch Foundation of providing young people all over the world with digital tools and opportunities to imagine, create, share, and learn. We are grateful for Fastly's partnership, allowing us to stay flexible and agile as our platforms Scratch and ScratchJr grow globally as leading creative learning tools. To qualify for free services through the Fast Forward Program, members must freely distribute their codebase and align with Fastly’s open source values: open, community oriented, inclusive, friendly to new contributors, and built on trust. If accepted, they in turn commit to sharing knowledge and resources with the Fast Forward community and beyond. About Fastly Fastly’s powerful and programmable edge cloud platform helps the world’s top brands deliver the fastest online experiences possible, while improving site performance, enhancing security, and empowering innovation at global scale. With world-class support that achieves 95%+ average annual customer satisfaction ratings, Fastly’s beloved suite of edge compute, delivery, and security offerings has been recognized as a leader by industry analysts such as IDC, Forrester and Gartner. Compared to legacy providers, Fastly’s powerful and modern network architecture is the fastest on the planet, empowering developers to deliver secure websites and apps at global scale with rapid time-to-market and industry-leading cost savings. Thousands of the world’s most prominent organizations trust Fastly to help them upgrade the internet experience, including Reddit, Pinterest, Stripe, Neiman Marcus, The New York Times, Epic Games, and GitHub.

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Hyper-Converged Infrastructure, Application Infrastructure

Evocative Signs Definitive Agreement to Acquire 9 INAP Data Centers

Evocative | September 15, 2022

Evocative, a global provider of Internet infrastructure, announces today its intent to acquire the majority of INAP’s data center facilities. The acquisition will consist of 9 data centers, including colocation and related network services. The acquisition of INAP’s data centers adds to Evocative’s existing data center footprint with new facilities in Boston, New Jersey, Atlanta, Dallas, Los Angeles (2), Silicon Valley (2), and Seattle. With the facilities acquired from INAP, Evocative’s portfolio increases to 20 operating data center colocation facilities and 60+ global Points of Presence. In addition to the data center asset acquisition, Evocative also plans to welcome several INAP employees associated with the INAP data center business to the Evocative team. In doing so, the company will grow by 30%. The acquisition is expected to close within the next few weeks, bringing Evocative’s data center presence to: 20 carrier neutral Tier II and Tier III data centers in the United States 1,080,000 square feet of data center space with significant expansion space 108 MW of available power with an additional 25% expansion capability Over 500+ carriers across the portfolio including direct public cloud on-ramps 2,000+ carrier, content, and enterprise clients “Foremost, we welcome our new clients and employees to Evocative. We are honored and humbled to be your new partner. We are excited to share the strength of Evocative's digital infrastructure capabilities with our clients. “We know the importance of enterprise digital enablement. We built a company that offers a comprehensive suite of solutions from the physical foundation up the stack to enable the delivery of highly secure, hosted data services,” Khalili added. Arman Khalili, Founder and CEO of Evocative With organic growth and its acquisition strategy further advanced by the INAP data center purchase, Evocative has emerged as a leading enterprise digital infrastructure provider. Evocative is well positioned to continue its exponential growth with a clear focus on providing best-in-class IT infrastructure and a full suite of services. The acquisition is expected to close in Q3, 2022, following the standard closing process. About Evocative Evocative is a global leader in enterprise-class data center, bare metal, network, cloud, and managed services solutions that enable exceptional digital experiences. Evocative’s global footprint includes interconnected data centers and points of presence supporting over 68,000 servers across strategically located metros in North America, Europe, and Asia regions. Through organic growth and strategic acquisition, the company continues to expand its presence to power enterprise workloads at the edge. Evocative is dedicated to helping drive digital businesses forward, now and in the decades to come.

Read More

Hyper-Converged Infrastructure, Application Infrastructure

VPLS, an Evocative Company, Fortifies Management Team to Empower Enterprise Digital Infrastructure Growth

VPLS | August 23, 2022

VPLS, an Evocative company and a global provider of Internet infrastructure, data center, and managed services, announces today that it has expanded its leadership team, setting its sights on enabling enterprises with access to a full suite of digital transformation solutions including colocation, network, bare metal, cloud and managed services. VPLS added three core members to its management team including Mark Hassman, Vice President of Systems; Renée Lawrence, Vice President, Global Marketing; and Steve Rubin, Vice President of Network Engineering. Mark, Renée, and Steve bring complementary digital infrastructure experience to the company, fortifying operations, product and service capabilities, marketing, and customer experience for VPLS’s global roster of customers. “VPLS has experienced tremendous growth in these past few years. “In 2019, Evocative acquired VPLS and its full suite of enterprise-class solutions including Internet, multi-cloud and hybrid cloud solutions, and managed services, followed by the acquisition of facilities in Dallas and in Silicon Valley. As we bring together additional team members with proven track records of successfully integrating and innovating enhanced infrastructure solutions for the enterprise, our organization is well positioned to empower future generations of digital solutions.” Arman Khalili, CEO of VPLS Mark Hassman brings more than 25 years of Internet technology experience to his role as Vice President, Systems at VPLS. Commenting on his new role, Hassman states, “I’m pleased to bring the cumulation of my experience in systems architecture, automation, and infrastructure services to VPLS. Our colocation solutions, combined with our broad data center footprint, global network backbone, capabilities for private, public, and hybrid cloud, and managed services offer companies exceptional options for their evolving digital infrastructure requirements.” Renée Lawrence is a corporate communications and brand strategist joining the team as Vice President, Global Marketing. She brings to this role extensive experience in product and solutions marketing, product management, partner program development, digital marketing, and competitive insights and analytics. Lawrence remarks, “I am very happy to be joining the team at VPLS. It’s an exciting time for our organization and I’m looking forward to bringing our brand and our product and services portfolio into this next phase of our growth.” Steve Rubin’s more than 30 years of experience in the digital infrastructure industry brings core backbone engineering, data center connectivity, hardware, software, and cloud interconnection expertise to his role as Vice President of Network Engineering. Remarking on his new role, Rubin said, “I am thrilled to be fortifying the VPLS network infrastructure as we focus on scale and security. Our clients are confronted with challenging network and security decisions and it’s an honor to be a trusted partner, advisor and resource.” About VPLS VPLS, an Evocative company, is a global leader in enterprise-class data center, bare metal, network, cloud, and managed services solutions that enable exceptional digital experiences. VPLS’s global footprint includes 18 data centers supporting over 68,000 servers across strategically located metros in North America, Europe, and Asia regions. Through a series of acquisitions including VPLS, assets from Carrier-1 Data Centers, Wave Broadband, and more, the company continues to expand its presence to power enterprise workloads at the edge. VPLS is dedicated to helping to drive digital businesses forward, both now and in the decades to come. VPLS is a brand under its parent company, EVODC LLC.

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