Cloud Infrastructure as a Service

August 21, 2020 Software Winners In a Post-Pandemic World – Atlassian Is a Refreshing Value Play

COVID-19 has forced software companies and their suppliers to refocus efforts around prioritizing systems and workflows that are nearly 100% digital in nature. As a result, Info-Tech has observed the quick emergence of six market themes that are highly relevant post COVID-19. This note series will profile key vendors and how they fit into the post-COVID-19 world.

August 05, 2020 Software Winners In a Post-Pandemic World – Microsoft Checks All the Boxes

COVID-19 has forced software companies and their suppliers to refocus efforts around prioritizing systems and workflows that are nearly 100% digital in nature. As a result, Info-Tech has observed the quick emergence of six market themes that are highly relevant after COVID-19. This note series will profile key vendors and how they fit into the post-COVID-19 world.

July 20, 2020 Oracle Launches Cloud@Customer, Bringing the Autonomous Database to the Data Center

Oracle has announced the general availability of Exadata Cloud@Customer, a managed service that enables enterprises to unlock the previously cloud-first features of Oracle's Autonomous Database for on-premises data centers. This offering is ideal for enterprises that must conform with regulatory and/or technical challenges that force on-premises database residency.

April 27, 2020 Microsoft Cloud Services Usage Surges 775% for Teams in Regions With Enforced Social Distancing – Part 2

Experiencing issues when using Microsoft online services? You are not alone. Capacity constraints were being hit, pre-COVID-19, and usage has surged in regions with enforced social distancing.

April 15, 2020 Microsoft Announces Server-Side Encryption for Azure Managed Disks, Customer-Managed Keys Included!

Microsoft’s announcement that server-side encryption with customer managed keys for Azure Managed Disks is now available is welcome news for security-minded public cloud customers. Managing one’s own keys in a cloud environment can be an important step in complying with regulatory requirements, and this new feature should open Azure Managed Disks to a wider group of customers who may have held back for this reason.

April 15, 2020 Microsoft Announces Expansion of Azure Canadian Infrastructure, Offers Data Residency and High Availability

In January, Microsoft announced what it’s calling “the largest expansion of its Canadian-based cloud computing infrastructure” since 2016. Additional availability zones and services will increase capacity for cloud-hungry Canadians, and the addition of an Azure ExpressRoute site in Vancouver will guarantee security and performance in a regulated jurisdiction.

April 15, 2020 Google Cloud Introduces a Premium Support Offering – What Took Them So Long?

Google has announced a premium support plan for its cloud customers, promising a 15-minute response to the highest severity tickets. Google’s cloud has long struggled with enterprise customers – especially when compared to giants Microsoft and AWS – and this announcement is the latest incarnation of Google’s push to better serve a critical constituency.

April 13, 2020 AWS VPC Traffic Mirroring Improves Out-of-Band Traffic Inspection

AWS VPC Traffic Mirroring gives customers more visibility for out-of-band traffic inspection. This feature is another useful tool for monitoring in the AWS cloud.

April 13, 2020 AWS Improves Security Options With VPC Ingress Routing

Amazon Web Services (AWS) has provided its customers with better options for Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) ingress routing. Customers will have to consider which works best for their needs.

March 31, 2020 Microsoft Cloud Services Usage Surges Over 700% in Regions With Enforced Social Distancing: How Could This Impact Your Organization?

Organizations have been running into capacity constraints on cloud infrastructure in regions with enforced social distancing due to COVID-19. Having a back-up plan will be critical to your business continuity plans.

March 26, 2020 Working With Microsoft During an Economic Downturn

Microsoft’s deep pockets and Financing division can save your IT budget. If your Enterprise Agreement is coming up for renewal in the next six months, we will likely be in an economic downturn.

March 26, 2020 Microsoft Adding Additional Support Months to Windows 10 Due to COVID-19

Microsoft has added six months of additional support to Windows 10 Enterprise and Education 1709. This will help reduce pressure to upgrade and provide support in the interim as companies focus on business continuity plans due to COVID-19.

March 18, 2020 Part 2: Microsoft’s Change From Premier to Unified Support May Cost Organizations Up to 30% More

A year has passed since Microsoft converted Premier Support to Unified. High costs, little information, and few comparable options make it difficult for many organizations to decide whether to keep Unified Support, find an alternative, or drop it all together.

March 12, 2020 AWS CloudEndure Price Cut: Replicate Your Heart Out

AWS has cut the cost of its CloudEndure disaster recovery service by 80%.

March 10, 2020 Google Cloud’s Acquisition Journey Provides Hints to GCP’s Strategy

As Google Cloud prepares to finalize its $2.4B acquisition of Looker, a data analytics company, a look back at recently announced acquisitions sheds light on GCP’s shift towards building capabilities that can directly compete with Azure and AWS.

February 21, 2020 Google Acquires Mainframe Migration Company Cornerstone

On February 19, Google Cloud announced its acquisition of Cornerstone Technology. This acquisition aligns with Google’s focus on ease of migration as a differentiator for its cloud services.

February 21, 2020 The JEDI Saga Continues: Microsoft and DoD Must Pause Work After Court Ruling

The force is not with Microsoft after a US federal judge ordered the company to stop work on its $10 billion Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) contract with the Department of Defense.

February 04, 2020 MSFT Q2 FY20 Earnings – Cloud Strength Propels Microsoft to New Heights

Microsoft reported earnings for their Q2 FY20, and the results continue to amaze, with revenue of $36.9 billion (YoY growth of 14%). All three of Microsoft’s operating segments saw material year-over-year (YoY) growth.

January 29, 2020 Amazon Announces General Availability of Its Outposts Hybrid Solution

Amazon announced its Outposts product, the AWS stack in your datacenter, ordered through its cloud console, in late 2018. In December 2019, the service, which promises a fluid experience between Amazon’s cloud and customers’ on-premises environments, marks a big step towards the next phase of cloud competition.

January 29, 2020 Amazon’s Quantum Adventure: Amazon Announces Braket, Its First Foray Into Quantum Computing-as-a-Service

Amazon Web Services has announced Amazon Braket, its first customer-facing foray into quantum computing-as-a-service. Though it is not yet live, Amazon promises that Braket will provide developers with the tools needed to experiment with quantum algorithms and explore different hardware options available to consumers.

January 27, 2020 AWS Data Exchange: Bringing Third-Party Data to Amazon’s Cloud

Amazon recently announced its new “AWS Data Exchange” service – users of large repositories of third-party data rejoice! With Data Exchange, AWS customers will be able to more easily take advantage of cloud-native third-party data.