B10WH

ResearchAndMarkets.com announced the release of additional research papers to its “Data Center Market in Europe 2016-2020” report. It reflects on Software Defined Data Centers (SDDC), which is considered as the latest trend in the data center services market.

A SDDC refers to a data center where infrastructure is delivered as a service (IaaS) through virtualization of physical computing infrastructure. In other words the physical hardware infrastructure is managed through intelligent software systems.

Software defined data centers supports both the traditional model of physical IT colocation (now called “legacy applications”) and Cloud computing setups. On paper, SDDC improves dat center service efficiency, optimizes costs to a certain level, allows companies to provision applications and computing environments very fast, enables services such as High Availability and Failover and creates virtualized computing environments which allow companies to move their workloads in the Cloud.

The “Data Center Market in Europe 2016-2020” reports says that the number of data center construction “is growing in European countries not only because of the favorable environmental conditions for data center operations”. The analysts found out that “The growth is also aided by the demand for enterprise businesses to operate business through cloud platforms and the increased need for colocation services in the region”.

ResearchAndMarkets.com report also suggests that the demand for Cloud-based services is increasing among enterprises in Europe and that “the complexities associated with business applications have increased because of the enormous growth in data volumes, something that has triggered an increase in the need for construction and renovation of data centers in this region”.

European Data Center Market To Grow By 10% by 2020

The reports projects that the data center market in Europe to grow at a CAGR of 10.4% form 2016 to 2020. The report covers the existing scenarios and the growth prospects of the European data center market for until 2020. ResearchAndMarkets.com calculates the market size by considering factors such as the revenue generated from the capital expenditure of IT equipment, power management systems, cooling solutions, general construction, racks, security and data center infrastructure management. It covers the market landscape and the growth prospects over the coming years. There is a discussion of the key vendors operating in this market such as: Equinix, Interxion, Colt Technology Services, Digital Realty, Global Switch, Interoute, NTT Communications.

The report is available on web address http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/xqq229/data_center. A single user Electronic PDF costs $2,500.

In October 2015 VMware and Amazon Web Services (AWS) formed partnership that would allow Amazon clients to run vSphere-based Cloud service on AWS infrastructure. The new service is called “VMware Cloud on AWS” and allows Amazon customers to use Enterprise level of the VMware’s software-defined data center platform. This means that they AWS customers will be able to run any application across vSphere and VMware powered private, public and hybrid cloud environments. The new services is operated, managed and sold by VMware as an on-demand, elastically scalable service. AWS account holders will be able to use its developer tools, analytics, databases, etc.

VMware Cloud on AWS is optimized to run on the new bare metal AWS infrastructure. It will be powered by VMware Cloud Foundation, a platform which integrates VMware vSphere, VMware Virtual SAN and NSX virtualization technologies. Invite-only betas are expected to start in the beginning of 2017 with availability expected to be in the mid-2017 time-frame.

What Would Cloud Computing Users Expect From Cloud On AWS?

1. The service has been branded by both companies as “Best-in-class Hybrid Cloud Capabilities”. According to VMware and AWS it means “Enterprise class application performance, reliability, availability and security with the best-in-class VMware technologies, all optimized to run on AWS, the leading public cloud provider”.

2. VMware Cloud on AWS integrates companies’ in-house private data center with the AWS public cloud and allows them to using the same vCenter UIs, APIs and CLIs already in use. According to VMware “there’s nothing new to learn, and with vCenter Enhanced Linked Mode” and clients you will have a single pane of glass for managing on-premises and VMware Cloud resources on AWS.

3. The service will be operated, sold and supported by VMware, including all software components.

4. The “VMware Cloud on AWS” cloud instances will be seamlessly integrated with AWS Services and will have access to leverage AWS’s broad set of cloud-based services including storage, database, analytics, etc.

5. VMware and AWS promise full VM compatibility and total workload portability between client’s private data center and the AWS cloud.

6. VMware Cloud on AWS is ranked as “Elastically scalable”. It is expected to let account owners scale capacity up or down by adding or removing hosts.

7. The service is expected to remove the burden of managing the software patch, update and upgrade lifecycle for the user. Operating “as a service” means that VMware should ensure that client’s environment is always up to date.

8. VMware Cloud on AWS will be selling as subscription-based service and both VMware and ASW clients will be able to purchase dedicated compute clusters which run VMware software on the AWS infrastructure.

Why VMware and AWS Teamed Up?

First off such partnership is very beneficial to Amazon is it brings VMware’s unparalleled quality and stable virtualization software and Cloud computing products to AWS. Services like VMware’s High Availability and Automated Fault-Tolerance on the cloud would be virtually impossible or at very hard for AWS to offer to its customers. Having VMware’s Enterprise class virtualization and cloud software available, AWS would claim that its cloud infrastructure services outperform competitors in terms if productivity and stability.

For VMware the partnership with AWS means access to huge customers base. Amazon’s Cloud infrastructure services are quite expensive and even overpriced. VMware has been struggling to attract enough customers for its own Cloud services. It launched its own Public Cloud service called vCloud eight years ago in 2008. In 2013 VMware announced vCloud Hybrid Service and subsequently rebranded the program as vCloud Air. According to industry analysts vCloud Air program has been successful as Hybrid Cloud offering in the US, U.K., Germany, Japan and Australia. However, VMware has never made it with its Public Cloud. Now its aliens with Amazon is expected to correct this.

Despite that VMware is a undisputed leader of the virtualization software market the company did not have the same success on the Cloud service market. There are three huge public cloud service providers – Google Cloud Platform, Amazon Web Services and Microsoft’s Azure which offer a variety of value-added cloud services such as managed databases, storage services, data analytics, messaging, automated load balancing and auto-scaling and more. It would be virtually impossible to VMware alone to compete those three public clouds them in terms of the service portfolio and geographic locations.

Microsoft has recently acknowledged that it has gone too far in its aggressive pushing customers with Windows 10 installer. This involved the Get Windows 10 app, which came under heavy criticism for its lack of flexibility.

Microsoft Harassed Own Customers With Windows 10 Upgrade?

Windows OS users used to have a choice to decline the update but with Windows 10 upgrade notifications have become more frequent and users were unable to prevent them popping up if when they intentionally wanted to close the program. The Windows user harassment came to a point when the “X” button no longer worked for many users. Ironically those who have somehow managed to use the button have eventually found out that their Windows OS got upgraded.

The Apology?

Microsoft’s Chief Marketing Officer Chris Capossela was forced to admit that the company was extremely pushy on Windows 10 upgrade. He said that the Microsoft was “too aggressive in pushing out the Windows 10 free upgrade”.

“We know we want people to be running Windows 10 from a security perspective, etcetera, but finding that right balance where you’re not stepping over the line of being too aggressive is something we tried, and for a lot of the year I think we got it right”, he said and added that “There was one particular moment … where the red X in the dialog box, which typically means … cancel, didn’t mean cancel”.

Capossela has also explained that “Within a couple of hours of that hitting the world, with the listening systems we have, we knew that we had gone too far”. It took some time to Microsoft developers to release a new update.

Is Windows 10 Good?

Many IT news websites give Windows 10 four or even five stars rating (our of possible 5 stars) and promote it as “probably the best Windows OS launched ever”. It offers performance improvements and better security features than the previous OS versions. This according to Microsoft was the main reason to force its customers to upgrade to 10 and that’s why Windows 10 upgrade was offered for free for Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 users.

However, many users have decided against Windows 10 upgrade and many who upgraded to this OS opt to return their computer systems to previous OS due to a number of controversial features in version 10. There have been a lot of complaints that Windows 10 is overwhelming users with ads promoting Microsoft products such as Microsoft Edge browser.

Three Microsoft Failures Related To Windows 10

1. Microsoft year long inability to come up with a hassle-free Windows 10 upgrade.

2. A result of Windows 10 anniversary update for many users was that their personal computers did not re-start. Microsoft responded with an advise for a “clean install”.

3. It took the software giant 4 months to fix a bug in Windows 10 update that shut down network connections for many users in the UK.

This happens each and every year. Various experts, media and corporations feed publishers and crete buzz about each and everything that is about to come next year. This article is focused on Cloud Computing and what to expect from major clouds in 2017. Don’t take it very seriously, it is a suggestion only. However, we will be happy if you bookmark this article and come back next year to find out how good was B10WH’s projection.

Your Cloud Computing Bill Would Increase

Well, corporations love to take more of your money on monthly basis. Most companies who use Cloud computing are under contracts. Upon expiration, Cloud users would expect 3% – 5% increase of their monthly costs. The annual “price hikes” are put into contract and many companies (Equinix in the U.S. for example) would increase your monthly bill in January with few percent. The service will not get better, that’s for sure (I do not mean Equinix, they are good enough).

You Will Be Chased By Reckless Sales Agents

If you are really lucky, you’d might find a way to stop Sales guys and don’t allow them to make you believe that you “need” any Cloud computing service or product you haven’t had an idea about 5 minutes ago. In fact, it is very much about our judgement and the salesman on the line. We must admit that not all sales person are irresponsible and careless, at least not all the time. However, it is a very good idea not to trust them in December (or probably in any 4th quarter) when they are focused solely on the commission and bounced they’d earn. If you need to buy anything at the end of the year or if you just allowed yourself to get caught by one, it is probably the time to get a very, very good deal for yourself. So, just imagine you are a Donald Trump kind of a guy and try to be a tough negotiator. This might get you a very good deal or might ruin your chances to sign one. If you actually don’t need anything a failed deal would be a good deal, it will save you money.

More Public, Private & Hybrid Clouds in 20017

The terms “Public Cloud” and “Private Cloud” sound a bit foolish, especially when you are told that “Private Cloud” mean that the installation, applications and services that run on the virtualized computing instance are created for internal use, while “Public Cloud” is a computing instance build to be accessible for anyone. Whoever, came up with the terms doesn’t have a really bright idea. However, it was a successful one, as the industry adopted those terms.

According to research firm Gartner Inc., the public cloud services market is projected is growing by 17.2% in 2016 to total $208.6 billion ($178 billion in 2015). The projection was released in September 2016. In 2017 more businesses will move their in-house computer tasks and installations into data centers, something which is called “Cloud”.  It makes sense, as any well-secured “Private Cloud” would save financial resources and would add make any business more flexible. It probably means longer work day, which is not that bad in those companies that pay overtime. It also means that many of us would spend less time commuting and more time home with the families.

Providers are pushing for Hybrid Cloud (a Cloud computing instance that works for public use and for internal use), which makes sense for them is it saves them money on Cloud infrastructure and optimizes their production costs. However, in many scenarios a Hybrid Cloud might work great for small businesses and would help pa company to digitalize its business and optimize operations at reasonably low cost.

One thing, which is important is to look forward and negotiate lowest possible pricing on Cloud expansion and resource increase.

Anyone’s ability to negotiate the best Cloud technology service at a reasonably low price is crucial for the internal innovation level for any business. Why?

Cost Savings, Technology Innovation & Agility

High prices and the technology aspect of Cloud computing adoption are the main concerns for most small business owners. People are used to traditional computing and perpetual software license. They are easy to understand and their costs are not hard to project and control.

However, the new computing technologies create innovations. The number of software producers who offer their applications on the software-as-aservice-model, rather than selling perpetual licenses is increasing. many industries are getting to a point where the best business automation tools are available only as hosted subscription services. If our competitors can afford to use the best software products hosted on the Cloud, while we are struggling to find a decent self-hosted alternative, it is very likely that we’d find our business less productive and loose market share.

Look at the price of any Cloud service in comparative way. If it is a bit more expensive that we are willing to pay, we should think about what value it brings for you business.

Cloud Is Regionalizing

it is not a good idea to jump on Amazon, Microsoft, HP, IBM or any other of the “major Clouds”. They are expensive and the value rate, compared to the cost is much lower than their alternatives – smaller, regional Clouds. Unless you represent a big corporation which needs to have specific clauses in the contract and is ready to pay premium for them, going with any major clouds just does not make sense.

It is very likely that we’d discover we’ve signed a bad deal wit any of the large cloud provider when we need support. Being transferred between departments , you ticket being “escalated” a number of time before anyone would bring resolution would kill small or medium size business. So, we’d better find any local, small or middle-sized Cloud infrastructure provider, discuss our project with them and ask for a short monthly or quarterly contract to start with. Contractual flexibility is very important and it prevents any possible disputes or financial losses.

Vendor Lock-in Cloud Platforms & Services

In the pre-Cloud era, companies used to buy equipment and to colocate it in data centers. Most of them still do that. However, within the last few years various experts argue that the total cost of ownership is relatively low for leased computing capacity. This is true in a short-term contracts and project with a time frame of up to 2 years.

Before the introduction of the Cloud computing concept in the IT hosting industry there was a clear division between Infrastructure Hosting providers, Software producers and Managed Service providers. These days there are a growing number of software producers, who offer their apps as hosted Sofware-as-a Service solutions. This means that they build their own IT service ecosystem and control the whole lifecycle: Product installation and configuration, Technical support and troubleshooting of their own application; Infrastructure Hosting  service and Management service (System administration).

Once client moves to any proprietary software platform, it is virtually impossible or at least time consuming and very costly to migrate or change the provider. So it is very important that:

Businesses avoid vendor lock-in Cloud Apps and services or work out a technical scenario on how to migrate their services, operations and whole data to any other platform or provider.

The best section on the Cloud would be to avoid proprietary vendor lock-in services. What dos this mean? In Infrastructure Hosting this means that the company is safe to use VMware, Xen or any other Cloud platform, as long as it is clear that the computing infrastructure could be migrated without hassle and the company would switch to another provider.

Software Defined Infrastructure Services

it sounds a bit confusing to mix software with the infrastructure services, but this is very much what certain part of virtualized environments and Cloud computing is about. We’d expect to use IT services delivered from a software-defined, virtual environments that comprise of integrated compute resources, data storage and networking. It is very likely that in 2017 or in a couple of years a small, but powerful server box would replace all the appliances – servers, switches, routers, firewalls – in the corporate branches and all services they produce would be delivered from software applications that run in one appliance.

There is a term for this “Hyperconvergence”, it is quite perplexing t say something like “We can expect more hyperconvergence in 2017, but complete solutions are still some distance away”, isn’t it?

That’s it. There are many other things to be said about the development of Cloud computing technologies and services in 2017, but this has never been planned to be very detailed. I hope that 2017 would bring you success with or without Cloud computing.

Germany’s United Internet bought web hosting company Strato, owned by Deutsche Telekom. According to the reports in the press, United Internet paid for around €600 million ($629 million) in cash. It takes on 2 million customer contracts and approximately €130 million in annual revenue. This another step toward consolidation of the European web hosting market. The company already owns popular web hosting, domain registration and online service brands 1 & 1, FastHosts, InternetX, Sedo, Web.de, GMX, Mail.com, etc.

Ralph Dommermuth, Chief Executive of United Internet explained that the acquisition of Strato will make possible for his company to expand its position on the “European hosting and Cloud application business”. He also added that such deal “drives the consolidation of a market which is currently still strongly fragmented”.

The deal is backed by a private equity group Warburg Pincus, which values Strato at 12.4 times earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization. According to experts this valuation is in line with the with the multiple that American web host Godaddy paid to acquire Host Europe Group (HEG).

United Internet has also been interested to buy HEG, but eventually switched to the Strato deal. According Reuters the equity group Warburg plans to inject additional €50 million into the business applications holding as part of the Strato deal. United Internet’s owns popular web hosting provider 1&1, which is among the biggest in Europe and within the last 5 years has significantly grown its business in the Unites States.

What Are Stato’s New Owner’s Expectations?

United Internet hopes that it will be able to attract small and medium German businesses to as clients by selling them various services – from websites, e-commerce solutions, CRM apps, security services and etc. The company is also looking forward to continue its web hosting acquisition business in order to consolidate the European It Hosting market and to.

Is European Web Hosting Industry Going The American Way?

More or less, “yes” as private equity firms and other type of investment ventures poor money to web hosting in order to increase “market consolidation”, which actually means to increase the market share for some big web hosting providers and to reduce the market significance of medium and small business IT hosting and Service providers. Investment funds and financial capital groups applies formula which multiplies the value of each business based on its size and customer base.

The bigger the entity is, the better chance financial groups have to launch IPO and to sell overestimated  shared on the stock exchange. Such approach to business proves to be profitable in a short run. However, when it comes to technology part of the business to the IT infrastructure services and Cloud service delivery, it possesses certain risk. It is all about decision making. After such acquisitions, the decisions are made by CTO’s and professionals who usually have a little to do with the management of IT businesses and processes. The investors and stockholders are always eager to return on their investments. As a result of that the companies increase pricing and the IT management is very often pushed to change the procedures and to impose restrictions and service terms which would make customers to increase their IT spendings.

In European Union, a single market on paper, that comprises of 28 national markets, 28 national languages and various business standards and cultures, it’s very costly and sometimes virtually impossible to apply common procedures and organizational standards which would create a successful universal IT service model. So it is very likely that any “consolidation” of the European web hosting industry to be just a short-lived and unsuccessful attempt to apply the American business practices into the European business environment.

The United Internet’s website does not differentiate from the finest traditions of corporate culture – to produce self-sufficient structures which are focused mostly on bragging about their own success. “With its clear focus on the growth markets internet access and cloud computing, United Internet is ideally placed to benefit from the expected market growth”, says the company’s website.