Not Just Vapor: 15 Cloud Solutions To See At Cloud Expo East, N.Y.
Cloud Expo Kicks Into High Gear
Cloud Expo East kicks off Monday at New York City's Jacob Javits Convention Center. The event brings together more than 5,000 delegates and more than 100 sponsors and exhibitors to discuss, highlight and debate the latest issues and trends in cloud computing through a series of keynotes, general sessions and breakout sessions.
And the Expo floor is where cloud vendors from software to security, from applications to data center, will show off the latest and greatest solutions to build and maintain a cloud infrastructure.
Here we take a look at 15 cloud computing solutions you'll see on the show floor as Cloud Expo East runs April 19 through April 21 in NYC.
Lighthouse Gateway
At Cloud Expo East, Lighthouse Computer Services will showcase off its Lighthouse Gateway solution, a next-generation enterprise Identity and Access Management (IAM) platform which acts as a cloud-computing alternative to on-premise IAM infrastructure. According to Lighthouse, the Lighthouse Gateway can drop TCO while giving end users simple management, speedy time to market and regulatory compliance.
NaviSite Cloud Services
NaviSite will launch its cloud-based managed services offering at Cloud Expo, unveiling managed infrastructure, applications and messaging services in the cloud.
The new cloud computing services feature the NaviCloud Managed Infrastructure Services, NaviSite's hosting and support for enterprise Web hosting, server management, storage, database, network and security management and data recovery with self-service or NaviSite monitoring and management; NaviCloud Managed Application Service, a full lifecycle service for end-to-end functional and technical support of cloud applications like Oracle, PeopleSoft, Siebel, SAP and more; and NaviCloud Managed Messaging Services, NaviSite's hosted Microsoft Exchange and SharePoint, Lotus Domino, mobile messaging and e-mail archiving for secure anytime, anywhere access to email, contacts and calendars.
NaviSite's services are guaranteed with SLAs and offer predictable usage-based pricing.
Abiquo Thunderflash
Open-source cloud management software-maker Abiquo will debut Thunderflash Exchange, a free community Website that gives IT professionals a one-stop shop for searching, finding and downloading virtual machine images -- such as pre-installed operating systems, applications and other tools, which can then be deployed as a unit in one simple operation from any provider. Thunderflash Exchange, which Abiquo will launch at Cloud Expo, is a cloud software directory to give vendors and open-source users the ability to add virtual machine images to use on any hypervisor. At its launch, Thunderflash will list more than 1,000 open-source and commercial images containing software from a variety of vendors.
Coolcentric LiquiCool
It's not a cloud platform or a cloud service, but Coolcentric's LiquiCool, which Coolcentric will showcase at Cloud Expo, cools the data center resources that keep the cloud aloft. Coolcentric LiquiCool products offer rack-level cooling to let IT managers maximize server virtualization and densification. Coolcentric offers cooling capacity to high density racks while using efficient amounts of energy to cool them to help virtualization be realized.
CloudSwitch
CloudSwitch plans to highlight its CloudSwitch Explorer and CloudSwitch Enterprise offerings at Cloud Expo East in New York this week.
CloudSwitch Explorer lets developers and IT pros explore the cloud and migrate applications quickly with no modifications. Enterprises can move multi-tiered applications to the Amazon EC2 cloud using a point-and-click system. The CloudSwitch software bridges the enterprise data center with cloud computing services, while extending enterprise security and control into the cloud. Applications remain integrated with data center tools and policies and can be managed as if they were running locally.
CloudSwitch Enterprise, meanwhile, lets users migrate applications to the cloud without rearchitecting the app or changing management tools and policies.
RightScale Grid Computing
RightScale has several tricks up its sleeve for Cloud Expo, which it's keeping under wraps for now. However, RightScale does plan to highlight its Gird Computing Solution Pack, the recently unveiled cloud management solution designed specifically for grid processing.
The RightScale Grid Computing Solution Pack gives companies the ability to use the cloud for grid computing by removing the complexities of deploying, monitoring and managing specialized processes in the cloud. The Solution Pack includes a grid framework that is automated, resilient to errors and auditable. It is designed to leverage Amazon EC2, SQS and S3 and can process large numbers of jobs in a scalable and cost-efficient manner while hiding the "plumbing" of any operations specific to AWS. The pack lets users provision and run a complete grid application environment in the cloud quickly and in a scalable atmosphere.
Hubspan WebSpan Saas Integration Platform
Hubspan will use Cloud Expo to show off its WebSpan SaaS Integration Platform, which the company said offers a flexible, secure and cost-effective way for businesses to exchange information and automate business processes. The enterprise-class WebSpan solution integrates Hubspan's cloud-based platform and managed services with IBM WebSphere integration software. WebSpan is offered in two product suites: WebSpan Connect, a suite of basic integration packages including file transfer, e-invoice, purchase order and punchout; and WebSpan Process, products that are premium business integration processes for supply chain, demand chain, ecommerce and advanced EDI integration.
Terremark
Terremark will take Cloud Expo by storm and showcase its vCloud Express and Enterprise Cloud offerings. Terremark vCloud Express is a public cloud for developmental teams and department needs that permits quick set up and gives users access to flexible, high-performance computing in a pay-as-you-go model. Users can configure resources as needed and pay only for the resources used. To get started users need only a credit card and a few minutes.
Terremark's Enterprise Cloud gives users precise, dynamic allocation of computing resources with the scale, performance and security to handle enterprise-wide applications. Large companies, IT executives and multi-site teams can leverage the multi-user capacity, dedicated resource pool architecture and role-based security model as well as private network connectivity and physical device integration.
InfiniBand Trade Association's New Spec
The InfiniBand Trade Association (IBTA) will use Cloud Expo as the platform to launch a new specification aimed at bolstering RDMA-enhanced low latency Ethernet adoption in the data center. For cloud computing, RDMA is enjoying increased adoption of solutions like data warehousing, financial services and transaction processing. The new standard will give enterprise users optimized performance for technologies commonly used in the cloud such as server virtualization, multi-core CPU servers and high performance data storage.
The new spec, RDMA over Converged Ethernet (RoCE or "Rocky") is designed to deliver ultra-low latency over Ethernet fabrics, offer comprehensive support of OpenFabrics OFED RDMA and low latency APIs; enable converged I/O over Ethernet complementing LAN/SAN traffic with IPC; and enable the use of purpose built, efficient transport results in cheaper, lower-power NICs.
TwinStrata
At Cloud Expo, TwinStrata plans to unveil its storage cloud enablement strategy for mid-sized companies to address protecting and managing the growth of business application data.
TwinStrata strategy leverages intelligent storage clouds that consist of storage-as-a-service offerings combined with intelligent cloud enablement solutions. The solutions offer non-disruptive integration with applications; support for all file systems and block-level access; intelligent caching architecture that delivers local performance; support for virtual and physical IT environments; ease of deployment; and the ability to manage in a self-service manner via a UI, CLI or API. The offerings also deliver local and cloud data copies and zero-footprint snapshots; encryption; bandwidth savings; support for multiple cloud providers with data mobility; and support for providers that offer SLAs for regulatory and compliance requirements.
Univa UniCloud 2.0
Univa will showcase its UniCloud 2.0 at Cloud Expo. UniCloud is a cloud management software offering that can be used to build private clouds, leverage public cloud services or enable a cloud service offering for end customers.
Companies can leverage UniCloud to build clusters in the cloud or create a hybrid computing environment by extending on-premise infrastructure to a cloud service like Rackspace or Amazon EC2. UniCloud also offers private cloud environments that optimize internal resource utilization and improve application performance across a virtual environment.
Mellanox
Clouds can't exist without the right hardware and Mellanox will show off its gear at Cloud Expo that is the building block of cloud infrastructures. Among Mellanox's cloud-ready offerings are its IS5000 40Gb/s InfiniBand switch system family and FabricIT management suite. The offerings enable high-performance computing clusters and data centers to scale using switch building blocks from 36 to 648 ports in a single enclosure with low-latency performance.
Leveraging Mellanox's InfiniScale IV 4th generation of InfiniBand switch silicon, the switch family and full line of host channel adapters, software and cables enable the next generation of high-performance computing, cloud infrastructures and enterprise data centers.
Hatsize
Training and demonstration company Hatsize will showcase its TrueLab automation and go-to-market platform at Cloud Expo, a solution the company said helps clients break into virtualization. TrueLab from Hatsize combines training solutions, proofs of concept and complex enterprise software and hardware sales demonstrations.
CloudShare
CloudShare at Cloud Expo will unveil FastUpload, a new feature that it calls "the missing link" for companies looking to quickly and easily move virtual machines, unchanged, to the cloud. According to CloudShare, FastUpload users can upload existing in-house VMware-based virtual IT environments and make them available as a cloud-based service in as little as 15 minutes.
CloudShare FastUpload is part of the CloudShare Pro offering, which gives users the ability to extend access to -- or move -- their virtual infrastructure, from the enterprise to the cloud, on a platform that supports companies like Cisco, VMware, SAP and McAfee.
CloudShare Pro, and CloudShare Enterprise, is an on-demand service that enables technology vendors to remotely provide product evaluations, proof-of-concept demonstrations and training and certifications in virtual environments without the need to ship hardware.
Nimsoft On Demand
Nimsoft, a business unit of CA, recently unveiled Nimsoft On Demand, which will be on display this week at Cloud Expo. Nimsoft On Demand is a Software-as a-Service (SaaS) Unified Monitoring solution that delivers the capabilities and benefits of IT monitoring as an on-demand solution.
With Nimsoft On Demand, emerging enterprises and MSPs can maintain visibility into their business-critical IT infrastructure - including both their internal assets and those in the cloud - without having to purchase, administer or deploy monitoring hardware and software on their own premises. Nimsoft On Demand monitors external IT resources - including SaaS applications such as Salesforce.com and Google Apps, and infrastructure cloud services such as Rackspace Cloud, Amazon Web Services, Terremark and BlueLock. It also monitors internal resources including Microsoft Exchange servers and virtualized data centers powered by VMware and Citrix. It enables customers to implement NMS Unified Monitoring capabilities under an adaptable subscription model, allowing them to pay only for the level of monitoring they use at any given time.