Ben Kepes, Author at NetworkingNexus.net

Ben Kepes

Author Archives: Ben Kepes

IDG Contributor Network: DataStax wants to manage Apache Cassandra anywhere

In the early days of the cloud, a decade or so ago, the conversations were generally parsed in terms of it being a zero-sum game. Either the cloud would win or on-premises would. Either public cloud would crush private cloud or the other way round. And if the public cloud were to win, then it would be a fight to the death between Google, Microsoft and Amazon.But we’ve all gotten a little more nuanced since then, and most people accept that some kind of hybrid offering will likely be the default for the vast majority of organizations into the future. With a few exception, most organizations will take a little bit of this, add it to a little bit of that, and throw in some of that stuff for good measure.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: RackWare, like everyone, wants to manage hybrid clouds everywhere

RackWare offers a management and automation platform that enterprises use to manage their computing resources to more closely follow demand. RackWare’s core proposition is that its management suite delivers cost savings to customers of a suggested 40 to 50 percent. Additionally, RackWare promises to deliver the highest levels of performance and availability to their customers.The company today released a new take on its management suite that aims to extend the existing core RackWare offering. The new platform promises to offer enterprises a single solution (they refrained from calling it a single pane of glass) to move applications, protect those same applications and manage all the different applications across the totality of their infrastructure. Justifying the move, RackWare points to a recent IDC report that suggests 70 percent of heavy cloud users are considering a hybrid cloud strategy.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: RackWare, like everyone, wants to manage hybrid clouds everywhere

RackWare, like everyone, wants to manage hybrid clouds everywhere

IDG Contributor Network: BackupAssist takes a step back in time with a SME backup tool

I live my life in two worlds. The most visible world, at least to this audience, involves spending lots of time in Silicon Valley and the U.S. generally and conversing with the technology illuminati—those who “get” technology, the cloud and what it can offer the world.In my other life, I live in a small (like, tiny) rural village in deepest, darkest New Zealand. I’m surrounded by fine folk, the so-called “salt of the earth” who make a living from the land, sheep, grapes and the rural sector generally. To these folks, technology is simply another tool to add to the arsenal of tools they have at their disposal.+ Also on Network World: Deep dive on AWS vs. Azure vs. Google cloud storage options + For these people, cloud isn’t always an already-adopted opportunity. Rather they use a variety of technology products and services. I have a friend who runs an agricultural service business whose operational software is a DOS-based solution. While this may have friends in the technology world rolling their eyes and shaking their heads, it is the reality of the “real world.” As an aside, I’ve said for the longest time that technology companies Continue reading

IDG Contributor Network: Signal Sciences wants to protect ALL the web

The security space is one area where there are a massive number of vendors all offering to solve particular discrete problems. That is all well and good if you have a singular, discrete problem to solve, but what happens if you’re looking for a solution that covers the totality of your needs?Signal Science wants to be the answer to that question, the company offers a web protection product that covers cloud, physical and containerized infrastructure and provides security prioritization based on where applications are targeted. Signal Sciences claims Under Armour, Etsy, Yelp and Shutterstock as customers.+ Also on Network World: What to ask when selecting application security solutions + The company is making a dual announcement today. The first about its platform overall; the second is some fundraising news. Since fundraising is often seen as a validation of the product story, I’ll cover off the money side of things first. Signal Sciences has raised a $15 million Series B funding round led by Charles River Ventures.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: Signal Sciences wants to protect ALL the web

IDG Contributor Network: Tricentis and Panaya automate SAP testing

One criticism that I have never heard leveled at enterprise software vendor SAP is that it over simplifies things. Quite the opposite. In fact, SAP is well known for being a seriously complicated set of applications that offers huge amounts of flexibility, but huge amounts of complexity to go with it. Perhaps that is why a Google search on “SAP implementations gone wrong” brings up a steady stream of disaster stories.So, at first blush the partnership between Tricentis and Panaya makes sense. Panaya is a division of outsourcing company Infosys. It helps organizations using SAP and Oracle solutions to be more agile (and, yes, for the naysayers, “agile” is a relative term). It also helps with testing and collaboration across the entire software release process.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: Mirantis scores sweet Vodafone deal. More fuel for the OpenStack fire

I’ve been covering Mirantis for the longest time. They’re an easy company to write about. Seemingly every drama in the IT industry has some kind of Mirantis involvement, and while that might be a slight exaggeration, it’s fair to say that they’re good at providing fodder for the peanut brigade.Most recently, Mirantis has been undergoing something of a transformation, as market dynamics and the realities of their initially chosen areas (that of being a specialist OpenStack service shop) didn’t really prove viable. In recent months, Mirantis has significantly cut staffing levels and pivoted somewhat to being a service provider across a variety of open-source cloud operating systems (most notable Kuberenetes).To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: Red Hat rolls out the announcements at its annual summit

Last week open source company Red Hat held its annual summit. I didn't actually attended the event, but I took the opportunity to follow along virtually. Many of my analyst friends were there, and between their missives, some back-channel conversations and interaction with their AR/PR team, I got a pretty good handle on what was up.This comes at an interesting time for Red Hat. Its original business, Red Hat Linux in all its flavors, is going well, but newer open-source initiatives (OpenStack, OpenShift, Docker, etc.) have muddied the waters and created a requirement for Red Hat to embrace different areas.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: Healthcare data breaches skyrocket, but is there good news coming?

In 2016, 328 individual healthcare breaches occurred, surpassing the previous record of 268 in 2015, according to Bitglass’ recent Healthcare Breach Report. As a direct result of the breaches, records of approximately 16.6 million Americans were exposed due to hacks, lost or stolen devices, unauthorized disclosure and more.The good news, however, is that the overall number of compromised records has declined for the second year in a row, and early indications suggest that those numbers will continue to decline in 2017.+ Also on Network World: Healthcare records for sale on Dark Web + The report aggregates data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Wall of Shame—a database of breach disclosures required as part of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)—to identify the most common causes of data leakage.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: Healthcare data breaches skyrocket, but is there good news coming?

IDG Contributor Network: Wasabi serves up some spicy AWS-killer claims

What happens when you take a couple of very seasoned co-founders, investment from some high-profile investors, and an uber-dominant existing vendor? Well, in Wasabi’s case, you get some pretty outlandish claims. But before we got on to that, let’s look at the who and what for Wasabi.Wasabi is a cloud storage company founded by Jeff Flowers and David Friend. Those names might ring a bell, since they’ve started, built and sold five previous technology companies. Most recently they co-founded backup company Carbonite and previously founded Pilot Software.RELATED: Engineering firm uses cloud storage to speed file loads, and then unplugs its MPLS net These two can’t seem to stop themselves, and for their latest idea, they’ve already raised a ton of cash—$8.5 million to date with key investors, including Bill Sahlman, Harvard Business School marketing prof and angel investor; Desh Deshpande, who donated $100 million to MIT for the Deshpande Center; Ron Skates, former CEO of Data General; Jeff Parker, founder of CCBN; and Howard Cox from Greylock Partners.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: Zoomdata wants to scale out real-time data visualization

Zoomdata is a company that is all about helping organizations paint pretty pictures from their data. That might sound like a flippant description, but visualizations are actually an important part of surfacing insights and delivering them in a way that is actionable by the organization. Zoomdata is one of an increasing number of vendors that are filling a big gap in the marketplace.+ Also on Network World: Data visualization tools: The features users love and hate + You see, visualizations or data insights have historically been a product borne of the work of data analysts, utilizing data warehouses and rigid query approaches. This way of working was, arguably, OK in the past when organizational development cycles were slower and there was less of a critical imperative to innovate at speed. Today, however, time is of the essence, and these old-school approaches towards analysis simply don’t cut it any more.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: Twistlock leverages the container opportunity to score big funding

The open source Docker initiative has been nothing if not entertaining. Epic levels of intrigue, dastardly deeds and positioning seems to be the order of the day.Of particular interest is what the Docker ecosystem is doing, particularly how the third-party solution players deftly promise loyalty to Docker Inc. but also position themselves for survival in the increasingly likely eventuality that Docker (the company) will, in Silicon Valley parlance, eat their lunch.+ Also on Network World: Finding and protecting the crown jewels + One interesting area is that of security as it relates to containerized applications. One vendor doing good work in the space is Twistlock. Twistlock describes itself as the industry’s first enterprise security suite for containers. Twistlock's technology addresses risks on the host and within the application of the container. In doing so, it gives enterprises the ability to consistently enforce security policies, monitor and audit activity, and identify and isolate threats in a container or cluster of containers. Twistlock's stated mission is to provide a full, enterprise-grade security stack for containers so organizations can confidently adopt and maximize the benefits of containers in their production environment.To read this article in full or to leave a Continue reading

IDG Contributor Network: Twistlock leverages the container opportunity to score big funding

IDG Contributor Network: Rollout’s ROX helps developers roll out new mobile app features

It seems like a lifetime ago when the primary way we interacted with applications was through a web browser (let alone via an installed application—let’s not even go there). Today, the mobile application is increasingly the way people communicate, socially mediate, post pictures and do the myriad other things that technology allows.And as the usage of mobile applications has increased, organizations increasingly look to up the sophistication of these applications. Where market opportunity exists, vendor soon follow—and vendors are sprouting up on a daily basis to help organizations increase the complexity, effectiveness and optionality of their mobile apps.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

IDG Contributor Network: StorageOS jumps on the ‘storage for Docker’ bandwagon

As one of the earliest backers of recently shuttered vendor ClusterHQ, I’ve seen a long and torturous journey for Docker add-on vendors. Part of this is a timing issue—ClusterHQ was pretty early, and arguably burned a bunch of its hard-earned cash too early.But some of the issues are more ecosystem related. When Docker, the commercial entity behind the eponymously named open-source project, was first founded, it received massive interest from funders. Multiple funding rounds saw Docker Inc. achieve incredible valuation levels that many predicted would be problematic in the future.+ Also on Network World: 5 reasons developers love containers + That prediction would seem to have eventuated, and the recent high-profile rise of Kubernetes certainly increased the pain Docker feels. While many will be quick to point out that Docker and Kubernetes aren’t mutually exclusive, Docker’s valuation was arguably predicated on the company’s ability to expand its footprint far further into the orchestration aspects of containers. The fact that an open-source initiative came to bear, and one that has the proven track record of being directly descended from the systems that Google uses to run its own massive business, certainly put the pressure on Docker.To read this Continue reading

IDG Contributor Network: Sapho makes bad enterprise software better

I’ve written a number of times about a class of software vendors that, in my view, are doing a heroic job. While these vendors aren’t philanthropists, they may as well be, helping millions of frustrated users of enterprise software worldwide reduce the pain they feel on a daily basis.You see, for anyone who is in the fortunate situation of not having to interact with enterprise software on a daily basis, your own interactions with consumer software on your mobile device might have lulled you into a false sense of security.+ Also on Network World: Enterprise software: A look forward to 2017 + The reality is enterprise software, to put it bluntly, sucks. I’m self-employed and have never worked within a large corporation, but I’ve done enough consulting within these sorts of organizations to have gained a reasonably good appreciation for just how bad these solutions are. Horrible user interfaces, difficult user experiences, generally desktop-bound, slow and inflexible—there is very little to say about traditional enterprise software that is good. And I’m not just talking about the one of two enterprise software vendors who normally bear the brunt of these criticisms. Every traditional player is, in my view, guilty Continue reading

IDG Contributor Network: Authentic8 wants to protect users from bad websites

Many of us have experienced that moment of terror when clicking on a potentially risky link: Will it all be fine or will I start a torrent of bad outcomes from my action?But bad stuff sometimes happens and, sad as it sounds, sometimes the links we click on take us to dark places with bad outcomes. Authentic8 wants to limit those impacts by reducing the blast area of bad content.RELATED: Machine learning offers new hope against cyber attacks Authentic8, the vendor that created the secure, virtual browser Silo, today announced that its browser will enable organizations to selectively redirect particular URLs for safe rendering within an isolated browser. The idea of this approach is that rather than trying to block any suspect content, organizations can let it through, secure in the knowledge that it can do no widespread harm. Authentic8 was founded by the team from Postini (an email security product acquired by Google).To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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