Microsoft and Oracle expand interoperability partnership to Canada to help joint customers run their mission-critical workloads

Oracle announced this week continued expansion of its cloud interoperability partnership with Microsoft to help joint customers worldwide run their mission-critical workloads across Oracle Cloud and Microsoft Azure. Its new interconnect location means enterprises can now build workloads that seamlessly interoperate between Microsoft and Oracle cloud regions in Canada. This interconnect builds on an existing partnership announced in June of 2019.

The partnership has received a huge amount of interest, as 80 percent of enterprises use a combination of Microsoft and Oracle software to run their businesses. 

As cloud computing becomes ubiquitous, and businesses rely on multiple cloud providers, the partnership makes managing companies’ most important cloud workloads significantly easier. These workloads include financial planning, inventory, sales applications – and their underlying databases.

The expansion will give more customers direct, fast and highly reliable network connectivity between Microsoft Azure and Oracle Cloud, while providing first-class customer service and support that enterprises have come to expect from the two companies. This multi-cloud solution delivers the performance, easy integration, rigorous service level agreements, and collaborative enterprise support that they need to simplify their operations. 

Simply put, the Oracle-Microsoft partnership means cloud services run by the two providers will interoperate as if they were part of a single cloud, making it easier for customers to run their mission-critical workloads across the two clouds.

“The global demand for running applications and databases in multi-cloud environments continues to accelerate,” said Clay Magouyrk, senior vice president of engineering, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure.  “With the new interconnect, our Canadian customers can now take advantage of a nearly seamless cloud integration between the world's largest enterprise cloud providers, Microsoft and Oracle.”

The two companies are putting customers first by enabling them to run full-stack applications side-by-side across clouds, or one part of a workload within Azure and another part of the same workload within Oracle Cloud. 

For example, using the interconnect makes it possible to connect Azure services like analytics and AI to Oracle Cloud services like Autonomous Database. Together, Azure and Oracle Cloud offer customers a one-stop shop for all the cloud services and applications they need to run their entire business.

From a technical perspective, the interconnect means less latency or delay, which enables better data transfer and application interaction between clouds. It also supports a broader spectrum of workloads, using resources available on both sides. Accenture recently performed testing on the performance of the interconnect and confirmed that the solution offers customers low latency and high ease of use.

Microsoft and Oracle plan to make the direct interconnect available in additional regions, including on the US West Coast, in a US Government specific region, in Asia, and in the European Union. Earlier this year, Oracle and Microsoft created an interconnect in Ashburn (North America), Azure US East, and in London (United Kingdom).

Datadog announces integration with Microsoft Azure DevOps to derive metrics from their continuous integration pipelines

Datadog announced Thursday a new integration with Microsoft Azure DevOps. Users can pull in events, derive metrics from their continuous integration pipelines, and correlate this information with real-time data from their entire stack in Datadog. 

In addition, teams can set Datadog monitors as gates in their Azure DevOps deployment pipelines, enabling them to detect and abandon bad releases automatically before users are impacted.

Companies are increasingly adopting continuous integration and continuous deployment best-practices to improve the speed and agility of their developer operations. As part of this, many teams rely on services like Azure DevOps in order to release more frequent, smaller updates to their code. 

As updates proliferate, monitoring this activity in context with application performance data becomes critical. Without this visibility, determining a root cause and fixing bugs in dynamic environments can be very time consuming, resulting in extended outages.

In addition to troubleshooting deployments, managers can also use this integration to understand the efficiency of their DevOps processes. Datadog generates metrics to help track Azure DevOps events, so users can see how often builds are completing or failing, the frequency of code commits, and the duration of work items. This data provides feedback for teams to track and improve their workflows as they implement agile methodology.

“We’re excited that users will no longer need to jump between tools to monitor how deployments might be impacting their applications,” said Steve Harrington, product manager at Datadog. “With the ability to stop Azure DevOps deployments automatically based on issues detected in Datadog, this integration provides a powerful tool for mitigating or preventing downtime altogether.”

NTT forms alliance with Microsoft to enable new digital solutions that help enterprise customers accelerate their digital transformations

NTT and Microsoft announced on Tuesday a multi-year strategic alliance aimed at delivering secure and reliable solutions that help enterprise customers accelerate their digital transformations. The alliance will bring together NTT’s ICT infrastructure, managed services and cybersecurity expertise, with Microsoft’s trusted cloud platform and AI technologies. 

Key initiatives of the alliance include the creation of a Global Digital Fabric, development of digital enterprise solutions built on Microsoft Azure, and co-innovation of next-generation technologies in the area of all-photonics network and digital twin computing.

As one of the world’s largest global technology and business solution organizations, NTT provides integrated services that include digital business consulting and managed services for cybersecurity, applications, cloud, data centers and global networks in over 190 countries and regions. 

As part of the alliance, NTT has chosen Microsoft Azure as its preferred cloud platform for modernizing its global IT infrastructure and customer solutions in the areas of advanced analytics for cybersecurity threat intelligence and the hybrid-IT management platform.

The alliance has announced formation of a Global Digital Fabric that weaves Microsoft Cloud and NTT’s globally connected ICT infrastructure, by combining the strengths of the two companies in the areas of productivity solutions, public cloud, global datacenter and network infrastructure. The Global Digital Fabric aims to create a highly sustainable, secure and robust environment for enterprises to accelerate their digital ambitions around the world.

The alliance also covers the development of digital solutions built on Microsoft Azure to empower enterprises to accelerate their digital transformation and to operate more securely from the enterprise to the edge to the cloud. Key initiatives include advanced analytics for cybersecurity threat intelligence, social robotics with relational AI for digital companions, digital workplace solutions, as well as knowledge discovery and management.

The alliance will also explore research and development of all-photonics network and digital twin computing as part of NTT’s Innovative Optical and Wireless Network (IOWN) concept. The goal is to provide a more natural interaction between people, nature and technology, and to support sustainable growth with an optical-based networking and information processing platform of the future.

Furthermore, NTT and Microsoft are committed to harnessing the power of technology for a more sustainable future. The companies intend to work together to invest in innovative projects that leverage technology to build on NTT’s sustainability initiatives and Microsoft’s AI for Earth grants.

“NTT is committed to helping enterprises realize their digital transformation initiatives to help create a smarter world. We believe that the combination of the Microsoft Azure platform along with NTT’s connected infrastructure and service delivery capabilities will accelerate these efforts,” said Jun Sawada, president and CEO of NTT. “Additionally, the companies will collaborate on IOWN, including areas such as all-photonics network and digital twin computing.”

“Our strategic alliance combines NTT’s global infrastructure and services expertise with the power of Azure,” said Satya Nadella, CEO, Microsoft. “Together, we will build new solutions spanning AI, cybersecurity and hybrid cloud, as we work to help enterprise customers everywhere accelerate their digital transformation.”

Microsoft validates Lenovo ThinkSystem SE350 edge server for Azure Stack HCI

Microsoft and Lenovo have teamed up to validate the Lenovo ThinkSystem SE350 for Microsoft's Azure Stack HCI program. The ThinkSystem SE350 was designed and built with the unique requirements of edge servers in mind. It is versatile enough to stretch the limitations of server locations, providing a variety of connectivity and security options and can be easily managed with Lenovo XClarity Controller. 

The ThinkSystem SE350 solution has a focus on smart connectivity, business security, and manageability for the harsh environment.

The ThinkSystem SE350 is the latest workhorse for the edge. Designed and built with the unique requirements for edge servers in mind, it is versatile enough to stretch the limitations of server locations, providing a variety of connectivity and security options and is easily managed with Lenovo XClarity Controller. 

The ThinkSystem SE350 is a rugged compact-sized edge solution with a focus on smart connectivity, business security, and manageability for the harsh environment.

The ThinkSystem SE350 is an Intel Xeon D processor-based server, with a 1U height, half-width and short depth case that can go anywhere. Mount it on a wall, stack it on a shelf, or install it in a rack. This rugged edge server can handle anything from 0-55°C as well as full performance in high dust and vibration environments.

Information availability is another challenging issue for users at the edge, who require insight into their operations at all times to ensure they are making the right decisions. The ThinkSystem SE350 is designed to provide several connectivity options with wired and secure wireless Wi-Fi and LTE connection ability. This purpose-built compact server is reliable for a wide variety of edge and IoT workloads.

Azure Stack HCI solutions bring together highly virtualized compute, storage, and networking on industry-standard x86 servers and components. Combining resources in the same cluster makes it easier to deploy, manage, and scale, while managing command-line automation or Windows Admin Center.

Consumers can achieve virtual machine (VM) performance for server applications with Hyper-V, the foundational hypervisor technology of the Microsoft cloud, and Storage Spaces Direct technology with built-in support for non-volatile memory express (NVMe), persistent memory, and remote direct memory access (RDMA) networking.

Orange uses embedded software to improve end-user experience on its ThousandEyes alliance

Orange partnered with US-based ThousandEyes, an Internet and cloud intelligence company, to deliver real time, end-to-end visibility on both its enterprise networks and the Open Transit Internet (OTI).

The ThousandEyes platform, combined with Orange expertise around data analytics, provides businesses and carriers with improved digital experiences delivered across the Internet to cloud service providers (CSPs), Internet service providers (ISPs) and content providers (CPs). 

Using the ThousandEyes platform, Orange is now able to continuously monitor the performance of certified ISPs and their connection to the Orange Next-Gen Hubs, OTI points-of-presence globally, and all major cloud service providers and content providers. This allows Orange to deliver on the promise of the Internet of Enterprises and OTI by providing performance measurements over Internet in 60 countries, and will continue expanding coverage in the coming months.

Orange Business Services, the global enterprise division of the Orange Group, intends to power this partnership to provide its customers with leading-edge enterprise-grade managed Internet, multi-cloud connectivity and SD-WAN visibility services.

Orange has already deployed the ThousandEyes platform successfully with customers. This includes a German industrial manufacturer, who used it to determine the best cloud connectivity solution in China. 

During a performance assessment of Office 365 and Microsoft Azure connectivity, Orange compared direct connectivity via its Orange Business Services Next-Gen Hub to an alternative solution over Internet. The results were clear: Next-Gen Hub provided up to three times more bandwidth and with more reliability, thereby delivering the best experience for the customer’s users in China.

A key Orange Business Services objective is to accompany its customers around the world in their cloud and SD-WAN transformation journeys, and the ThousandEyes platform is a critical enabler to optimize the migration phases. It allows Orange to monitor quality of experience at both the application and network level, and speed up troubleshooting in case of Internet-related performance issues. 

Customers will be able to gain insight into the internal and external dependencies that impact the end-user experience.

Zadara Storage deploys at Cologix's Columbus data center campus to leverage connectivity, cloud on-ramp to AWS, ecosystem

Cologix, a network-neutral interconnection and hyperscale edge data center company, has announced that Zadara Storage recently deployed its enterprise cloud storage platform at Cologix's Columbus data center campus and interconnection hub.

The Columbus data center market has exploded in recent years due its geographic proximity to roughly half of the U.S. population, offering low latency connectivity options with strong tax incentives and low environmental risks. 

Cologix Columbus is one of the largest and most advanced data centers in the Midwest. A Tier III Certified facility, Cologix Columbus purpose-built for enterprises and large customers that need critical power with complete uptime, robust connectivity through more than 50 onsite carriers and its ecosystem, as well as direct access to major cloud providers.

Zadara Storage already deployed with Cologix in Montreal earlier this year, where it operates 10 traditional and hyperscale data centers with more than 100 MW and direct on-ramps to such cloud services as Amazon Web Services Direct Connect, Google Cloud Platform, Microsoft Azure ExpressRoute, IBM Cloud and Oracle FastConnect.

"We are pleased Zadara Storage selected Cologix to support the explosive growth in demand for their enterprise storage-as-a-service solution," said Laura Ortman, president and chief revenue officer of Cologix. "We welcome them into our robust interconnection hub in Columbus with access to major cloud on-ramps like AWS and connectivity to our Cloud Access Marketplace."

Unisys releases Stealth(identity) SaaS, its cloud-based offering for secure biometric identity management

Unisys has announced availability of Unisys Stealth(identity) Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), its cloud-based version of the company's biometric identity management software. The new offering brings the biometric identity proofing and authentication capabilities of Stealth(identity) to both large and small enterprises by leveraging the agility, ease of deployment and cost-effectiveness of Microsoft Azure.

With the release of the new SaaS version of Stealth(identity), Unisys delivers large-scale biometric solutions for citizen identification and border security programs around the world and making those capabilities available to smaller enterprises and organizations through the cloud – conveniently and cost-effectively. 

When combined with the strength of other security offerings – such as Unisys Stealth microsegmentation software to isolate devices or users at the first sign of compromise – Stealth(identity) is an essential component of a zero trust network. 

Stealth(identity) SaaS will support multiple forms of biometric authentication technologies, including facial recognition as well as behavioral biometrics, with the ability to integrate new biometric modalities in the future.

Stealth(identity) combines open technology architecture, extensive client experience, with latest techniques in multi-modal biometric identity management to give you automated, high-volume, near-perfect identity verification accuracy. With plug-and-play integration, Stealth(identity) works seamlessly with both current biometric technologies and any new technologies that users may want to adopt – future-proofing organization and securing tomorrow.

Stealth(identity) strengthens defense against identity fraud by establishing trusted identities of individuals across multiple physical and digital channels. It also provides comprehensive control of biometric management processes and the flexibility to adapt to and leverage advancements in technology to consistently stay ahead of fraudsters.

Compared to on-premise identity solutions, Stealth(identity) SaaS delivers a faster return on investment as an easy-to-consume and integrated cloud offering that utilizes a subscription-based pricing model which supports operating expenses budgeting. It also supports single sign-on capabilities to add a layer of biometrics-based protection to applications for e-commerce, banking, transportation and any application within the enterprise that leverages biometrics for authentication.

"By offering Stealth(identity) as a cloud-based service, Unisys is leveraging our experience in delivering large-scale national ID and border protection biometric implementations and making them available for smaller-scale enterprise implementations like online banking or airline passenger boarding or second factor biometric authentication," said Vishal Gupta, chief technology officer and senior vice president of technology, Unisys. "Stealth(identity) gives clients a simplified, cost-saving effective way of addressing the problem of identity fraud by establishing accurate, unique, verified and irrefutable identities – resulting in greater security and convenience."

KIOXIA’s PCIe 4.0 enterprise NVMe SSDs strengthens storage performance; achieves PCI-SIG compliance and NVMe certification

KIOXIA America Inc. (formerly Toshiba Memory America, Inc.), the U.S.-based subsidiary of KIOXIA Corp., announced Wednesday that its lineup of PCIe 4.0 NVMe enterprise solid state drives (SSDs) has achieved PCI-SIG compliance for PCIe 4.0 and University of New Hampshire InterOperability Laboratory (UNH-IOL) certification. 

KIOXIA’s CM6 Series passed interoperability tests at the August 2019 PCI-SIG Compliance Workshop – that includes official PCIe 4.0 specification tests. KIOXIA America will be on hand at Supercomputing 2019 later this month to showcase new levels of flash performance enabled by its CM6 Series SSDs. 

KIOXIA develops PCIe 4.0 NVM Express SSDs and continues to push the limits of flash storage performance. The CM6 Series brings planned performance improvements of three times over its PCIe 3.0 predecessors and is 12 times faster than SATA drives. KIOXIA’s lineup of Gen4 PCIe SSDs also includes the CD6 Series, which is targeted to cloud and scale-out environments.

The PCIe 4.0 NVMe enterprise SSDs utilizes KIOXIA’s 96-layer BiCS FLASH 3D flash memory, PCIe 2x2 or 1x4 lane configuration options, targeted transfer rates up to 6,900 megabytes per second; and supports SFF-TA-1001 (also known as U.3) operation with universal backplanes for simplified customer use with SAS, SATA and NVMe SSDs.

KIOXIA was at Microsoft Ignite earlier this month to demonstrate the CM6 Series running in a Microsoft Azure hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) platform with Quanta Cloud Technologies – and enabling twice performance gains over a PCIe 3.0 solution. 

“We were able to show that our CM6 Series SSDs are capable of pushing SSD sequential read performance to over 55 gigabytes per second (GB/s) across eight drives – nearly 7GB/s per SSD – and we’re not done yet. KIOXIA will continue to push the performance envelope for our customers,” noted Alvaro Toledo, vice president of SSD marketing and product planning for KIOXIA America.

PCI-SIG hosts Compliance Workshops several times a year in various locations worldwide, giving members the opportunity to test and validate their products before entering the field. Compliance testing is completed against both PCI-SIG maintained systems and other manufacturers of PCI products. 

As the key testing and certification lab for NVMe technology and software, the UNH-IOL provides conformance and interoperability testing across various operating systems, drivers, and hardware platforms, as well as PCIe SSDs and PCIe-enabled servers. “The SSD market is quickly moving to NVM Express technology, and standards compliance is critical to ensure smooth adoption,” added Toledo.