Tech 10: New Cloud Products For The Winter Season

Crowded Cloud

The winter season has brought a host of new cloud products and services, from application development and performance platforms to health-care-focused solutions. Here's a look at 10 new offerings from some of the biggest and most successful cloud players in the industry.

10. Teradata Cloud

Data analytics company Teradata last month made its long-awaited splash in the cloud with its Teradata Cloud suite, which delivers its analytics Software-as-a-Service. The suite includes Data Warehouse as a Service, and Teradata said it will add Discovery as a Service and Data Management as a Service in the first half of 2014. The company also is making available its existing Teradata Database and Teradata Aster Discovery Platform as cloud services for data warehousing and discovery analytics.

9. CA Cloud Storage For System Z

CA is stepping up its cloud storage play with a new solution that combines technology from IBM, Amazon and Riverbed. CA Cloud Storage for System z is a new cloud offering designed around IBM's System z mainframe, which backs up and archives the hardware's data in the cloud. The CA Cloud Storage for System z leverages Amazon Web Services cloud storage and Riverbed's Whitewater Cloud Storage Appliances to create a built-in safety net designed to give customers quick and easy access to crucial data.

8. Informatica Cloud Winter 2014

Winter is coming -- Informatica's Cloud Winter 2014, that is. The data integration software maker recently introduced the newest version of its Informatica Cloud suite, dubbed Informatica Cloud Winter 2014. The suite of cloud-based integration and data management solutions is powered by Informatica Vibe, an embeddable virtual data machine, and offers new capabilities around cloud data management and process automation. The new release also offers increased mobile access, thanks to a companion mobile app for both iOS and Android devices.

7. ExtraHop For Amazon Web Services

ExtraHop has made its big move to the public cloud. The application performance management vendor introduced ExtraHop for Amazon Web Services, which charts how applications are performing in AWS environments by analyzing wire data across instances and services. According to the company, ExtraHop For Amazon Web Services allows organizations to track workloads running both on-premise and in the public cloud, and is also designed to help better identify applications for cloud migrations and customize them for peak performance in the cloud.

6. StackDriver Monitoring-As-A-Service

Bridging the gap between AWS Cloud's infrastructure-level analytics and the need for application-level analytics, StackDriver recently rolled out an intelligent monitoring program for public cloud. The application helps maintain application uptime by analyzing for potential performance problems before they occur. The product is available for free on the StackDriver website for fewer than 10 resources, with a payment option available for additional plans.

5. Cloud Technology Partners' PaaSLane

PaaSLane for AWS dives deep into source code to help application developers migrate efficiently to the AWS Cloud. It reduces migration time by 25 percent, creator Cloud Technology Partners said. Once in the AWS Cloud, PaaSLane for AWS gives recommendations on how to improve functionality, cut back on duplication of efforts and scan for best practice conflicts.

4. Citrix ShareFile Cloud For Health Care

In response to the updated regulations with HIPAA standards, Citrix created a new private virtual cloud exclusively for the health care market. Citrix ShareFile Cloud For Health Care is designed specifically to help companies stay compliant with updated HIPAA standards. It runs on the AWS Cloud, but sets aside its own virtual servers to the Protected Health Information (PHI) compliance. It is available to ShareFile accounts at no additional cost.

3. IBM Watson Cloud Developer

IBM's Watson technology is making the jump from television to the cloud. Big Blue's artificial intelligence system, which made headlines as a winner on the popular quiz show "Jeopardy!", will be available as a cloud development platform. The IT giant recently announced the IBM Watson Developers Cloud, which will allow software developers to build Watson-powered applications and then sell those apps via the IBM Watson Content Store. IBM said the first Watson-based apps will be available to the market in 2014.

2. Amazon WorkSpaces

Amazon WorkSpaces is currently renting to customers virtual desktops through the AWS cloud on desktops, notebooks and mobile devices for a monthly fee. The key selling points of the product are consistent operational efficiency through AWS, enterprise security and aggressive pricing, said Andy Jassy, senior vice president of Amazon Web Services, when he unveiled the product at the AWS re:Invent conference. The Standard package, with one virtual CPU and 50 GB of storage, costs $35 per user per month and the Performance page, with two virtual CPUs and 100 GB of storage, costs $60 per user per month.

1. Verizon Terremark Cloud Compute /Cloud Storage

Joining step with AWS, Google Cloud and Microsoft's Windows Azure, Verizon Terremark added an Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) offering with Verizon Cloud Compute and Storage-as-a-Service (SaaS) with Verizon Cloud Storage to its enterprise cloud portfolio.They expand on Verizon's enterprise cloud services, with features such as a multitier platform to prevent "bad neighbor" network crowding and a flat-layer network to avoid latency. The cloud offerings, recently announced, are still in beta but are expected to be extended to partners soon, Verizon Terremark told CRN.