The tide has turned for smaller cloud service providers. They no longer fear that hyperscalers will swipe away every last one of their customers. They’re now in the center of a healthy ecosystem that includes their infrastructure providers, customers, and hyperscaler partners. Why would enterprise IT organizations and small and medium-sized businesses snub the public-cloud ...

Modern, data-driven IT is stretching the capabilities of storage to the max. Big data, artificial intelligence, multicloud, breach protection — they all demand a new kind of data strategy. And this strategy needs advanced data-protection software to do what regular storage can’t do. Companies today must make data protection an integral part of their data ...

Software is eating networking, and it’s about time. Software-defined networking, network virtualization, software-hardware disaggregation, and intent-based networking are creating a nimbler network for multicloud. They’re changing the experience of networking end users and making new operating models possible. Traditional networking methods — like Multiprotocol Label Switching and traffic backhauling are fading away, according to Tom Gillis (pictured, left), ...

Many companies today are weighing VMware Inc. virtual machines against containers’ virtualized method for running distributed applications. The dilemma teeters on tough choices about on-premises versus cloud versus cloud native, and all the associated costs. VMware and partners are trying to pave a middle way with space for all. As part of that ecosystem, Veeam ...

Someone once said that in the future everything will take five seconds — except getting your license at the DMV; that will pretty much always take forever. Sites that must service large numbers of people aren’t famous for instant gratification. Could new technology do the tailoring and individualizing the staff can’t do? There’s a lot ...

What is the fate of VMware Inc. virtual machines? Some tout containers (a virtualized method for running distributed applications) as their obvious successor — at least in modern cloud environments. But in real companies with a variety of applications, and developer operations teams, there may still be a place for both. “This whole VM-versus-container debate, ...

What’s wrong with traditional backup and disaster-recovery technologies? They’re often standalone products that don’t mingle with the rest of the IT environment. Integrating backup and DR with other systems can reveal their numerous hidden talents. Backup, DR, data governance, and continuous data protection could all accomplish more if they’d work together, according to Shay Mowlem (pictured, ...

What is the state of enterprise big data? Many companies are hoarding as much data as possible in the era of digital transformation. At the same time, sophisticated hackers and data-privacy regulations increasingly make data a liability. How can companies progress with their big-data projects in the face of all this adversity? They need a ...

Telecommunications companies are about to get more interesting, thanks to 5G networking. They may now offer cloud-like enterprise services on top of 5G networking — and keep public-cloud providers from treading onto their turf. Telcos have traditionally provided connectivity, and that’s basically it, according to Shekar Ayyar (pictured), executive vice president of strategy and corporate development and ...

What’s shaking at IBM Corp. since it acquired Red Hat Inc.? In some quarters, it’s more of the same; the IBM Storage Division has partnered with Red Hat for quite some time. Albeit, with Red Hat nearer and dearer than ever, it’s poised to juice up its offerings around containers, the popular virtualized method for ...