12 Celestial New Cloud Products To See At Cloud Expo

Cloud Expo West

Cloud Expo West is ready to storm the Santa Clara Convention Center this week for a four-day cloud extravaganza. The show, which starts Monday and runs through Thursday, will bring together the top cloud vendors, visionaries and users from all walks of the industry to talk all things cloud.

And many companies will showcase their latest cloud wares. Here, we take a look at a dozen hot new cloud products that will be on hand at the show.

Code 42 Software CrashPlan Mobile Apps

Code 42 Software, developers of cloud backup solutions for consumers, businesses and the enterprise, will showcase free mobile apps for its CrashPlan and CrashPlan PRO backup services at Cloud Expo. According to the company, the apps offer users easy, secure access to all their files backed up online, on any Apple iOS or Android device. Users can view common file types, like pictures, word processing files, slide presentations and spreadsheets directly within the apps, or shared with other compatible apps. Downloaded files are stored on the mobile device for fast access. Once downloaded, files can be synchronized with the latest online version with a single tap.

INetU Gated Community Cloud

Managed hosting and cloud provider INetU will show off its new Gated Community Cloud cloud offering. The recently launched Gated Community Cloud is a cloud service the company says offers the benefits of public cloud while removing a lot of the risks associated with a public cloud infrastructure. The enterprise cloud environment offers users exclusive access to the infrastructure, keeping clients safe and from wondering with which other companies they are sharing their cloud infrastructure. INetU calls the Gated Community Cloud "the only cloud built for serious business."

rPath Cloud Engine

Private cloud application engine provider rPath will highlight the general availability of its rPath Cloud Engine, new software that lets cloud vendors and MSPs deliver consistent and reliable applications. According to rPath, the software plugs and plays into any cloud environment and uses a model-driven approach to provision and update. The rPath Cloud Engine software automatically generates software configurations based on an application's current run-time environment, eliminating the need for labor-intensive, error-prone approaches to image creation, such as golden images and manual scripts.

CloudSigma

Infrastructure-as-a-Service provider CloudSigma will showcase its SSD storage solution for public cloud IaaS environments. The storage play is designed to eliminate storage bottlenecks and I/O wait times on CPU in the cloud that can be created by traditional magnetic-based storage solutions' inability to keep pace with the requirements of multi-tenant cloud environments. CloudSigma said the addition of SSD storage into its cloud infrastructure expands the company's breadth and increases the capabilities of its public cloud.

Abiquo 2.0

Abiquo at Cloud Expo will launch Abiquo 2.0, the latest version of its software which allows customers to build and manage global, automated and governed self-service clouds. The new version adds new management, automation, self-service and governance capabilities, the company said. It also extends the software's functionality to include unlimited multi-currency pricing models for chargeback, show-back and show-forward; a new customizable portal to enable "fast-track" provisioning services; and enhanced orchestration and automation features, including full integration with Opscode Chef. With Abiquo 2.0 the company said it helps enterprises address new cloud consumption model challenges by enabling each stakeholder -- application and development teams, IT operations, compliance and the CFO -- with functionality aligned to deliver against their requirements for a successful cloud experience.

NextIO vNET I/O Maestro

At Cloud Expo, NextIO will show off its vNET I/O Maestro, which the company said simplifies the deployment and management of complex I/O. Based on industry standard PCI Express switching technology, vNET I/O Maestro consolidates and virtualizes server I/O at the top of the rack, the company said. Individual servers have access to a shared pool of I/O resources that can be dynamically added and re-allocated depending on workload demands. The virtualization of the I/O enables a single adapter to appear as multiple virtual adapters that may be shared among hosts or virtual machines. NextIO said vNET I/O Maestro can deliver greater operational efficiencies and can reduce CAPEX costs by 40 percent and OPEX costs by 60 percent.

ActiveState Stackato

ActiveState unveiled new management and monitoring features to its ActiveState Stackato private PaaS service at Cloud Expo. The update adds a new admin dashboard with deeper visibility into activities and events in the private cloud; application monitoring with New Relic integration; and improvements in Java deployment to Stackato from Spring Tool Suite on Eclipse. ActiveState also announced that it is now out of private beta and is now fully open to any cloud and IT administrators or developers.

UShareSoft UForge Gallery

At Cloud Expo, UShareSoft will unveil the UForge Gallery, a multi-OS, multi-cloud dynamic template store. The UForge Gallery will be added to UShareSoft's UForge for Cloud Providers suite. The company said it will enable hosting providers to offer an on-demand app store and scale their cloud services business with flexible customer on boarding, build-to-order managed services and an ISV ecosystem. According to UShareSoft, UForge for Cloud Providers models software stacks as cloud server templates, then publishes the templates to the cloud. UForge Gallery adds sharing and collaboration, and a dynamic template store. Hosting providers can deliver a self-service gallery of home-grown or third-party templates, which end users clone then edit and customize with their own software. The templates are re-usable and editable to let VARs, systems integrators and other channel partners offer customized cloud solutions.

McAfee Cloud Security Platform

McAfee will use Cloud Expo to show off its new McAfee Cloud Security Platform. Billed as the industry's only single content-aware platform, it secures all primary channels of traffic that moves between an organization and the cloud. It secures e-mail, Web and authentication traffic to help organizations safely and efficiently take advantage of cloud-based services. McAfee said the Cloud Security Platform can be deployed as an on-premise appliance, SaaS or a hybrid combination.

CloudPassage Halo Security Event Logging & Alerts

Cloud server security startup CloudPassage added security event logging and alerting capabilities to its Halo platform at Cloud Expo. The addition enables Halo to detect a broad range of security events and system states and alert customers when they occur. Halo provides real-time visibility into cloud server security since log entries and alerts can be generated on any rule created from cloud server configuration checks, the company said, adding that system security alerts can be created at the operating system and application level. It lets users define which system states and events generate logs or alerts, their level of importance and who receives them.

Interxion Cloud Testlab

At Cloud Expo Interxion showcased its second Cloud Testlab, a turnkey cloud hosting test environment that enables service providers and system integrators to develop cloud services quickly and with high performance guarantees. The company said the Testlab can be used for testing scenarios before deploying a cloud infrastructure with the proof-of-concept being run on a reference architecture. The Testlab offers a framework that supports multiple hypervisors and lets service providers build private and public clouds. The environment is located in Interxion's London data center.

New Relic Server Monitoring

New Relic revealed at Cloud Expo that free Server Monitoring has been added as a core capability of its SaaS application performance management (APM) tool, giving organizations visibility into critical resource utilization as well as deeper insight into cloud application performance. New Relic said its Server Monitoring measures critical systems metrics for CPU, Memory, NetworkActivity and Processes, and delivers them in context with application performance and end-user monitoring data in a single user interface. The company said it enables users to drill down from a specific application performance issue directly to the system-level root cause.