A daily summary of stories in the areas of Big Data, cloud computing and software-led infrastructure from some of the top news sources on the Web.

Product News 

IBM Broadens Hybrid Cloud Portfolio With OpenStack Play – InformationWeek 

Big Blue aims to bridge the gap between born-on-the-cloud startups and legacy-laden enterprises. “IBM’s OpenStack Services allow developers to access the public, private, and managed-dedicated cloud, all tied together through the hybrid cloud. OpenStack Services will allow developers to monitor and secure their own cloud efforts, as well as set up and scale their apps for deployment on any of IBM’s network of data centers.” 

VMware: Our DaaS is so large it now covers Japan, Australia – The Register 

VMware says it will soon offer desktop-as-a-service in “four US locations, three in Europe and the two in AsiaPac for a total of nine locations,” compared to six for Amazon. But does anyone actually use such a service? BTW, spot the typo in The Register’s headline.  

Google Tone broadcasts URLs to any device within earshot – Computerworld 

New Chrome extension can share URLs to any device within earshot through an audible tone. Sounds a little like Chirp. Why is it that new ideas seem to pop up at the same time?  

OpenStack Embraces Containers – TechCrunch 

Containers were once seen as a threat to OpenStack, but they’re actually a popular topic at OpenStack Summit, where Stackheads see containers as simply another technology to accommodate.  

Microsoft may be building a lightweight email app called Flow – CNET 

Looks like a lightweight version of Outlook designed for smart phone use. 

Business News 

SAP CEO says Salesforce won’t be sold – Business Insider 

It’s too expensive, says Bill McDermott. Since SAP was rumored to be a suitor, this further narrows the list of prospective acquirers.  

CSC to split in two, spin off U.S. public sector business – Computerworld 

As reported last week, the move will effectively divide CSC’s business between U.S. government clients and everything else.  

Nobody gets fired for buying Amazon – Business Insider 

A new Gartner report says the Amazon Web Services cloud gets ten times as much usage as the next fourteen competitors combined. Providing further evidence of how sharply the pyramid narrows at the top of the IaaS market, Garner adds that Microsoft’s Azure cloud, has twice as much compute capacity as the next 13 players combined.  

Coho Data Raises $30 Million in Series C Funding Led by March Capital Partners – BusinessWire

Flash storage startup Coho Data, Inc. closed $30 million in Series C funding, bringing its total funding to nearly $67 million. The round was led by March Capital Partners, with additional participation from Hewlett Packard Ventures and Intel Capital as well as existing investors Andreessen Horowitz and Ignition Partners. The company also announced general availability of its first all-flash storage node, the DataStream 2000f, which packs up to 320,000 input/output operations per second (IOPS) into a 2U chassis. The 2000f can be mixed and matched with other DataStream flash nodes to fine-tune performance.

Trends & Analysis 

First look: Windows Server 2016 goes on a cloud diet – Computerworld 

Simon Bisson takes the newest preview version of Win Server for a spin and likes what he sees, particularly the lightweight Nano server and improvements to Power Shell. “With Windows Server 2016, you get the tools and services you need to build a cloud infrastructure — ready to overlay the new Azure Stack tools and run a self-service high-density cloud in your own data center,” he writes.  

Amazon find its own way around leap second problem – by skewing time instead – ZDNet 

The extra second at the end of the day could crash some of its servers, so Amazon will instead spread the second out over the entire day, adjusting all clocks accordingly. In effect, Amazon will enter its own time zone on June 30. 

Do any REAL CIOs believe we’re in a post PC world? No. – The Register 

The Register convenes a panel of CIOs and shares meeting notes. They agree that Wintel desktops will be here for a long time, but see dramatic changes in the data center. Basically, there’s no reason to build one any more. They fret about “shadow IT” but agree that users need more control over their application decisions. In fact, that’s becoming an issue in the recruiting process. Oh, and they barely mentioned Big Data.  

Storing Data in Europe Won’t Make it Safer, Says Evernote CEO – WSJ 

Some European countries are pushing for laws that would require companies to keep personal data in servers on their own premises instead of in the cloud. The idea is “cumbersome and silly” says Evernote CEO Phil Libin. In fact, data will be more at risk in local data centers than on the cloud. Not that Evernote doesn’t have a vested interest in this question.  

The enterprise technologies to watch in 2015 – ZDNet 

Many of the 21 technologies on Don Hinchcliffe’s list probably won’t surprise you, but his four-quadrant chart offers an interesting way to organize them. In the Disruptive/Strategic category are collaborative economy, machine learning, social business, Big Data, Internet of Things and open APIs. The axes he uses are incremental/disruptive and strategic/tactical. 

Personalization as a Service: new revenue stream for IBM Watson? – VentureBeat 

IBM sees personalized experiences as being a huge application area, with travel and e-commerce applications being on the short list.  

Offbeat 

Area Man: ‘Yes, I Want Your Goddamn AOL CDs’ – WIRED 

“Jason Scott wants America to send him all the AOL CDs they can find, so that he can rip them, scan them, and put them on the internet for everyone to enjoy in perpetuity.” Apparently, Mr. Scott is into archiving things. It’s nice to have a hobby.  

17 percent take selfies or other photos while driving, AT&T study says – CNET 

That’s one of the more surprising findings of this AT&T and Braun Research survey that finds that 70% of drivers admit to texting or sending email while behind the wheel.  

Photo by NASA vis Flickr