Efficiency and Ecological Responsibility of Cloud Computing

We’re increasingly in a multi-cloud environment, with potentially multiple private, public and hybrid cloud implementations in support of a single enterprise. Organizations want to leverage the agility of public cloud resources to run existing workloads without having to re-plumb or re-architect them and their processes. In many cases, applications and data have been moved individually to the public cloud. Over time, some applications and data might need to be moved back on premises, or moved partially or entirely from one cloud to another.

That means simplifying the movement of data from cloud to cloud. Data movement and data liberation – the seamless transfer of data from one cloud to another – has become a major requirement.

In this webcast, we’re going to explore some of these data movement and mobility issues with real-world examples from the University of Michigan. Register now for discussions on:

•How do we secure data both at-rest and in-transit?
•Why is data so hard to move? What cloud processes and interfaces should we use to make data movement easier?
•How should we organize our data to simplify its mobility? Should we use block, file or object technologies?
•Should the application of the data influence how (and even if) we move the data?
•How can data in the cloud be leveraged for multiple use cases?

The price you pay for your UCC subscription, software, servers, or licenses is only part (and often, a small part) of your overall costs for UCC. And there are differences depending on your selected architecture and vendor.

Nemertes has researched what companies actually spend on UCC for 14 years now. In this webinar, we will share some of the key metrics you should consider when selecting a UCC provider—along with real-world data on what it costs to operate various providers. We will cover:

• What are the differences in operational costs, by size of rollout, for select providers?
• How do those costs change if you decide on a cloud vs. on-premise rollout?
• What are the top 5 questions I should ask in my UCC RFP?

We also will demonstrate Nemertes’ UCC Cost Analysis Tool, an interactive tool that uses Nemertes’ research data to deliver actual costs customized to your organization.

This Vivit SIG Talk session will feature a thought leader who will share his vast knowledge and experience with OpenStack Cloud. Join us to hear a customer story on how a full OpenStack solution increased productivity and its implementation from start to finish.

Speaker: Dr. Kenneth Tan
How to build an OpenStack cloud in Academic sector: University of Edinburgh: University of Edinburgh: The popularity of private cloud adoption even in the academic sector is rapidly rising. Today, OpenStack in academia is not just a subject we discussed at summits or conferences anymore. But how can you successfully adopt OpenStack when even log management and monitoring seems to be piecemeal for operators? It is clear that full OpenStack solution would be beneficial for efficient, automated, and cost effective cloud computing solutions, without requiring large OpenStack operations teams. Not all operators have the luxury of having teams dedicated to operate OpenStack.

During the presentation we will talk about how University of Edinburgh is more productive than ever with a full OpenStack solutions - Deploy, Operate, Upgrade, about how we put into production in 8 weeks the research services department of one of the UK’s largest academic private cloud system, and what is still missing for OpenStack to make the adoption of cloud computing more flexible and self-served.

Hundreds of companies, both old and new, are providing technology designed to improve customer engagement, ultimately raising customer experience scores. Everything from contact center to CRM to user sentiment to in-app contextual communications to many more areas are part of the customer engagement movement.

This first episode of our Digital Customer Experience series serves as a tutorial of technology categories and providers assisting in any customer interaction and analytics to evaluate success.

A recent survey conducted by Ensono, in partnership with the Cloud Industry Forum, showed that 89% of respondents believed that legacy technology was a barrier to effective digital transformation. Given that many organisations operate a complex technology landscape often with elements in different locations, and with core components that are regarded as ‘legacy but critical’, there needs to be a clear and simple approach to overcoming these obstacles.

Breaking down the barriers requires effective change in people, process and technology to attain a viable level velocity that will enable transformation without being held back by perceptions of legacy issues.

Examining these issues, this webinar will provide insight and thought provoking approaches for organisations seeking to transform their operations against this backdrop.

The “Great Storage Debates” webcast series continues, this time on FCoE vs. iSCSI vs. iSER. Like past “Great Storage Debates,” the goal of this presentation is not to have a winner emerge, but rather provide vendor-neutral education on the capabilities and use cases of these technologies so that attendees can become more informed and make educated decisions.

One of the features of modern data centers is the ubiquitous use of Ethernet. Although many data centers run multiple separate networks (Ethernet and Fibre Channel (FC)), these parallel infrastructures require separate switches, network adapters, management utilities and staff, which may not be cost effective.

Multiple options for Ethernet-based SANs enable network convergence, including FCoE (Fibre Channel over Ethernet) which allows FC protocols over Ethernet and Internet Small Computer System Interface (iSCSI) for transport of SCSI commands over TCP/IP-Ethernet networks. There are also new Ethernet technologies that reduce the amount of CPU overhead in transferring data from server to client by using Remote Direct Memory Access (RDMA), which is leveraged by iSER (iSCSI Extensions for RDMA) to avoid unnecessary data copying.

That leads to several questions about FCoE, iSCSI and iSER:

•If we can run various network storage protocols over Ethernet, what
differentiates them?
•What are the advantages and disadvantages of FCoE, iSCSI and iSER?
•How are they structured?
•What software and hardware do they require?
•How are they implemented, configured and managed?
•Do they perform differently?
•What do you need to do to take advantage of them in the data center?
•What are the best use cases for each?

Join our SNIA experts as they answer all these questions and more on the next Great Storage Debate.

After you watch the webcast, check out the Q&A blog from our presenters http://bit.ly/2NyJKUM

FICON (Fibre Channel Connection) is an upper-level protocol supported by mainframe servers and attached enterprise-class storage controllers that utilize Fibre Channel as the underlying transport. Mainframes are built to provide a robust and resilient IT infrastructure, and FICON is a key element of their ability to meet the increasing demands placed on reliable and efficient access to data. What are some of the key objectives and benefits of the FICON protocol? And what are the characteristics that make FICON relevant in today’s data centers for mission-critical workloads?

Join us in this live FCIA webcast where you’ll learn:

• Basic mainframe I/O terminology
• The characteristics of mainframe I/O and FICON architecture
• Key features and benefits of FICON

At most organizations, conference rooms are less than perfect--and that affects the productivity of any meeting. Inconsistency is the cornerstone of meeting room space, whether it's the power outlet locations, wired or wireless connectivity, brand of digital whiteboard, or video conferencing capabilities. That's why many companies are investing in "Conference Room of the Future" initiatives.

Nemertes recently conducted research among 600+ global organizations, and this webinar will focus on best practices.

It will address the following:
• What technologies are crucial to effective meetings?
• Who should run the meeting-room overhauls for the most success --IT or facilities?
• What are the differences between smaller, huddle rooms and large conference rooms, in terms of user expectations?
• How do advanced technologies, such as artificial intelligence and Internet of Things, play a role in meeting rooms?
• What should IT leaders look for in management and monitoring tools?

We look forward to sharing this information with you and answering your questions!

Join this 10 minute live Q&A with Splunk cloud migration experts as they discuss how organisations are cutting through the fog to gain visibility into their cloud environments for monitoring usage, security, compliance and keeping control of costs.

High visibility, low pressure.

Join this live panel discussion with experts from Splunk and AWS Marketplace to learn the latest trends and best practices for better cloud monitoring.

Tune into this interactive Q&A session to hear from Cloud and Storage experts on:

- How to ensure adherence to security and compliance standards
- How to manage AWS costs
- The benefits of analytics and visibility for your AWS workloads
- Why moving mission-critical workloads to AWS improves agility
- The latest updates from Splunk and AWS Marketplace on industry trends

This session will be broadcast LIVE straight from the AWS Summit in London.

Moderator: Simon Ratcliffe, Principal Consultant, Ensono & Cloud Industry Forum Chair
Panelists: James Hodge, AVP Field Technology, Splunk, Andrew Bird, Chief Digital Officer, Oryzus Consulting, and Benjamin Andrew, Global Lead - Security & Network Infrastructure, AWS Marketplace

Join this live panel discussion with experts from NetApp to learn the latest trends, technologies and future predictions for hybrid cloud infrastructures.

Tune into this interactive Q&A session to hear from Cloud, MSP and Infrastructure experts on:

- The future of data services for hybrid cloud platforms
- How to modernize your IT architecture
- Why a one-size-fits-all-approach doesn't work for hybrid cloud platforms
- Where managed hosting and managed services fit into your cloud strategy
- The latest trends in multi-cloud and what it means for enterprise applications

Moderator: Anthony Heaton, Director of Growth Sales, BrightTALK
Panelists: Martin Warren, Cloud Solutions Marketing Manager, NetApp, Chris Priest, Senior Consultant, Amido and Chris Harvey, Lead Architect, Scality

Without a solid collaboration strategy, organizations are very unlikely to succeed at digital transformation initiatives, particularly those that involve improved customer experience. The "customer" may be internal or external to the company.

This webinar reviews key data and real-world scenarios that show why collaboration tools enable customer experience improvements.

We will address the following:

• What measurable benefits do collaboration tools bring to CX?
• How can IT and business teams use CX initiatives to help secure budget for collaboration projects?
• What does management need to change--immediately--to help propel better collaboration and improved CX?
• How do collaboration initiatives integrate with CX in the contact center?
• How can you benefit from emerging AI integrations in both collaboration and contact-center tools?

We look forward to sharing this information with you!