Cloud provider Zynstra has come out of stealth mode with a platform that enables service providers to deliver a complete managed IT infrastructure for small to medium enterprises (SMEs), for a modest monthly fee comparable to the cost of a mobile phone contract.

Available now through Zynstra partners such as Easynet and voxclever, the platform offers customers one or more HP ProLiant servers preconfigured with services such as Microsoft Exchange and SharePoint, file storage and more, all of which are managed remotely for them by the service provider.

Zynstra chief executive Nick East told V3 that the company has focused on a different approach for delivering IT to SMEs, which often lack an IT department or the expertise to build and operate their own infrastructure.

“We’ve taken a hybrid cloud approach and made it relevant and affordable for SMEs. The thinking behind it is to make sure they can get data and applications with the security, performance and control that they want. They can run it on their own premises behind the firewall and combine it with any IT services they might want to use from the public cloud as well,” he said.

Instead of simply offering a scaled-down version of big enterprise infrastructure, Zynstra has tried to adopt a standardised approach using preconfigured and tested builds of applications and services.

The platform is essentially a “mini private cloud”, according to East. It uses the Xen hypervisor to operate each application and service the customer requires inside its own separate virtual machine.

Depending on requirements, this can include a Windows server acting as Domain Controller for Active Directory services, file storage virtual appliances, Exchange email server, SharePoint instances for collaboration, and applications such as Sage accounting software. Linux and open-source software can also be supported.

“The service provider should be able to recommend whether you are better running something on premise, or whether it would be more cost effective to link to the public cloud for something like Office 365 email, and they will be able to provide that integration as well,” East said.

Meanwhile, common to all deployments are security tools including firewall and anti-malware functions, plus automatic backup of all customer data.

Zynstra said it has developed its own management tools that allow service providers to manage and update the customer infrastructure non-intrusively and without causing any interruption of service.

“All updates are pre-tested before being deployed, and the service provider can spin up a new virtual machine then switch it with the live instance once it is up and running,” East said.

Pricing for the Zynstra service will depend on the configuration, and also whether the provider packages extras around it such as an IT helpdesk service, according to East. However, it is likely to cost in the region of “tens of pounds per user per month”, he added.

Cloud collaboration firm Egnyte has updated its platform with Google Drive integration, allowing its enterprise customers to see and access shared documents stored on Google accounts alongside shared files stored on Egnyte, and enabling better collaboration.

Egnyte’s platform is styled as an “enterprise Dropbox”, but actually combines on-premise storage with cloud-hosted storage to enable sharing across remote sites or access by mobile users, all under control of policies set by the IT department.

Rajesh Ram, vice president of products at Egnyte, told V3 that the firm has considerable traction in industries such as CAD and engineering, where there is a need to store very large files locally, but share them across multiple sites by synchronising via the cloud.

However, at the same time, customers are using multiple collaboration platforms for different purposes, and Google seems to be emerging as the leader for document sharing.

“As the cloud is becoming more mainstream, businesses are using different solutions to meet different needs. When you have to work on a project and you have to create a spreadsheet or a list that you collaboratively edit with a group of colleagues, Google Docs has pretty much become the standard for that,” Ram said.

“What we’ve tried to do is bring these worlds together and integrate all of it under one roof, so the end user can have Google Docs, CAD drawings, media files, all residing side by side and they can access them anywhere,” he added.

The integration comes at the back end, using Google application programming interfaces (APIs) to link Egnyte’s cloud to Google Drive. Customers will typically link their Egnyte account with a corporate Google Docs account, after which they can access both with a single sign-on.

Egnyte unveiled the Hybrid Cloud version of its platform last year. The current update is available at no extra cost to existing customers, the firm said.

IP telephony firm 3CX is extending its portfolio with a mobile device management tool aimed at small to medium firms needing to address the growing bring-your-own-device (BYOD) trend of workers using their own mobile device for work purposes.

Available now, 3CX Mobile Device Manager (3CX MDM) is a cloud-hosted service that provides smaller companies with many of the standard management functions you would expect to see in an enterprise-grade platform, but for a relatively modest annual subscription starting at €150 (£130) for up to 10 devices.

These include the ability to remotely lock and wipe a missing device, enforcement of passwords, the ability to push out WiFi and email configuration settings, and even application blacklist and whitelist tools to offer some control over what apps users can run.

3CX marketing manager Jaymes Marsh told V3 that the platform has been developed in response to demand from its channel partners, who in turn said they have been getting requests from SME customers worried about the amount of company data getting on to employee smartphones and tablets.

“One of the most important things is securing devices. What happens if it gets lost or falls into the wrong hands” he said. Another key concern is ease of use, which is why 3CX opted for a cloud-hosted service that customers can access through a browser, although an on-premise version is on the roadmap for customers that want this.

3CX MDM currently supports Android and Apple iOS devices, in addition to Windows 7 and 8 systems. Windows Phone support is coming in the near future.

On the security side, 3CX allows an admin to lock a device reported missing, and if necessary reset it to factory settings and wipe its flash card. This can be triggered by SMS message for devices with a cellular connection, even if they are not connected to the internet.

Meanwhile, the admin can change user passwords by individual group or device, if required. WiFi passwords can automatically be pushed out to users, allowing the firm to change this without having to recall devices or get end users to manually update. Access can also be rescinded by deleting the password if an employee leaves.

For Android devices, 3CX MDM includes a copy of the widely used AquaMail client app, because “configuring the built-in Android email client can be problematic,” according to March. Admins can push this out to users instead, and then push out configuration settings, he added.

Some remote support features are also included, allowing a technician to remotely see device and application usage logs, remotely manage files on a device, and perform a restart if required.

Application management capability enables an admin to see applications installed on all devices, and optionally set a blacklist of banned apps or a whitelist of approved apps.

On the roadmap for the future are features including the ability to monitor data usage for each device, and trigger an alert if a user starts using data roaming abroad or “roots” their handset.

3CX MDM is available free for up to five devices, to allow for pilot deployments but also because the firm sees it being used by families to secure their own mobile devices as well, Marsh said.

Often referred to as the ‘queen of startups’, Bindi Karia has supported events and initiatives for new firms across Europe, and led Microsoft’s entrepreneurial support branch BizSpark in the UK.

After leaving her role at Microsoft, Karia joined the UK branch of Silicon Valley Bank in January, taking on the role of vice president of Accelerator solutions, a branch of the bank that focuses on startup companies. Silicon Valley Bank has financed many burgeoning San Francisco firms, such as Twitter and Pinterest, and as part of its expansion into the UK it has backed companies including Mimecast and Cambridge Broadband Networks.

Karia’s Hot Seat follows other tech high-flyers, including EMC vice president for UK and Ireland James Petter and F-Secure chief executive Christian Fredrikson, as part of V3’s weekly insight into the professional and personal preferences of some of the biggest names in the IT industry.

V3: What’s your favourite part of your current job

Karia: Working with and being inspired by innovators and entrepreneurs. Their enthusiasm and passion for their product is infectious, and I carry it into the work that I do.
 
Which mobile phone and tablet do you currently use

I’m a bit of a tech junkie given my Microsoft heritage and the number of startups I’ve worked with. It’s made me curious about all the platforms for sure. Having recently left Microsoft and joined Silicon Valley Bank, I’m actually enjoying learning and playing with all the technologies out there.  I currently use a Nokia Windows Phone 7.5, a Surface Pro, an iPad Mini, a Symbian device (Nokia 808 PureView, the 41MP camera is absolutely amazing), and I’ve just purchased an iPhone 5.
 
Which person do you most admire in the IT industry

It would have to be Bill Gates. Not only did he change the world from a technology perspective, he is now changing it from a humanitarian perspective.  
 
Which technology has had the biggest impact on your working life

Tablets and cloud surrounded by productivity technologies. It means that I can work anytime, anywhere with WiFi, get real-time access to my data, and essentially be portable anywhere in the world. This means I can spend time on the ground with my customers at their offices, or out in the community and see what is really happening. I no longer have to be bound to my desk. 
 
What’s been the highlight of your career so far

Genuinely, it’s been meeting all the startup CEOs and rulebreakers. They completely inspire me.

What was your first job

My first job in my teens was as a retail assistant in a clothing store. My first graduate role was as a business analyst at Datamonitor.
 
What’s your favourite thing about working in the IT industry

The level of innovation and the incredibly rapid pace of change. Nothing is ever the same, which means you are forced to keep on learning and changing with the times. I love being kept on my toes to keep up with the incredible pace of change. Why do you think I have so many devices 
 
What will be the next big innovation of the coming years

Ultra-smart, uber-connected devices. Hyper local, and hyper knowledgeable of all aspects of the individual, from health to shopping to general day to day. We’ve not even begun with this generation of current devices yet.  

What do you do enjoy doing when you finish work

I enjoy keeping fit, so will always end up at some class in the gym, or going for a run if I am training for a marathon. I also enjoy meeting up with my friends, and finding new interesting restaurants in this great city we call London. There’s always something new and innovative popping up, every week it seems!   

What keeps you awake at night

Worrying that I will not get everything done that I need to the next day!  
 
What was the last book you read and was it any good

I’m currently in the middle of Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel. It’s a chunky read, so thank goodness for my Kindle app. So far, I’m really enjoying it.
 
Where’s your favourite holiday destination, or favourite place for escape

I am absolutely in love with and at home in the mountains, given that I grew up outside Calgary, Canada. Lake Louise, Canada, and Chamonix, France, are my favourite places bar none; they are my spiritual homes. For summer getaways, I love Mombasa, as my entire family is from Kenya, so I have been going there since I was a child.

E-readers or real books

Both. I download everything onto my Kindle for convenience, especially when I travel or commute. And for the more epic books, or the books I love, I buy a copy for my exceptionally crowded bookshelf at home. 

The Beatles or The Rolling Stones

Rolling Stones.

Favourite film

Amélie.

Windows or Mac OS

Windows.

On-premise or cloud

Cloud.

What’s holding women back from entering the IT profession

We need to start encouraging girls to take an interest in technology from a young age, and we need to continue to highlight current amazing female role models in technology. That’s why I rate initiatives like Microsoft’s DigiGirlz.

How can we get more school children interested in IT careers

I think initiatives like Code Club, CoderDojo or Codecademy are going a long way in terms of encouraging school children. Putting technology at the centre of the school curriculum would also make a lot of sense.

Did you always grow up wanting to work in IT

Actually, no. I fell into it as a result of the work I did, and the people I knew via work. In the beginning, I wanted to be in the Foreign Service given my international upbringing – how things change!

What websites do you have bookmarked at work

LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Outlook.com, TechCrunch, VentureBeat, Forbes, BBC, FT.com, SVB.com/UK.

Just one third of UK businesses are either running or considering implementing cloud computing services, with the UK continuing to lag behind France and Germany in the uptake of cloud computing, according to data released by Forrester today.

Instead UK businesses are spending proportionally more on hardware and software than most other countries in Europe and are continuing to invest in on-premise equipment, according to the study, which examined the IT spending of hundreds of businesses across Europe.

Andrew Bartels, an analyst at Forrester, told V3 that much of the UK’s businesses – notably those in the banking and financial services sector – have no reason to move into the cloud. He said this was down to the priority given to data security and high-power data centres for which cloud services cannot currently provide a cost-effective solution.

UK businesses spend a higher proportion of their IT budget on hardware and software than France and Germany, with 31 percent of IT spend going on in-house services and businesses seeing a 10 percent spending increase on software.

The utilities and telecommunications sector is leading the charge towards the cloud, however, with more than half of businesses in this sector adopting offsite services.

Elsewhere, the UK is seeing a higher adoption of mobile-based services, including both consumer and employee-facing mobile applications.

Bartels says that this is in part due to the UK’s big retailers such as Tesco pushing the market forward. “UK retailers have been leaders on a global basis in terms of adopting technologies, and this has put pressure on other retailers to do this. In France and Germany business is not as retail oriented and retailers are fairly conservative,” he said.

Sixty percent of the retail sector is now pushing for mobile-based technologies, according to Forrester’s study. The news comes as retailers such as M&S begin to see sales from mobile applications rise significantly.

The future of cloud computing is hybrid, according to Rackspace. However, the hosting firm also warned businesses to choose the right deployment model to suit their applications, and extolled the virtues of open standards in helping to build the best solution.

At a Rackspace “Unlocked” event in London, part of the firm’s Rackspace Academy programme, chief technology officer Nigel Beighton told an audience of engineers how to take best advantage of cloud computing, and hybrid cloud in particular.

“The next cloud is the hybrid cloud, it is the right fit for the enterprise,” Beighton said, echoing the industry consensus that, for the near future at least, firms are unlikely to ditch on-premise infrastructure for cloud services, but will instead use cloud to supplement and extend what they already have.

Beighton warned against rushing to the public cloud, and said that organisations need to consider which location will be the best place for applications and services to be delivered from on a case-by-case basis.

“People always talk up the pay-as-you-go aspect of public cloud services, but here’s an analogy. You can rent a car if you need one to use one, but if you rented a car every day you would find it more expensive than owning one in the long run,” he said.

Security is also “much harder” when running services on public cloud infrastructure, according to Beighton. “It isn’t necessarily less secure, it’s just more difficult to do,” he warned.

The real benefits of using cloud are that you can separate IT infrastructure from where it actually runs to give you greater flexibility, and that cloud frees developers in particular by allowing them access to extra resources when they need them, instead of going through a lengthy traditional procurement process.

“Cloud allows developers to grab more resources quickly, and this is leading to real fundamental change in the way development works, leading to firms being able to deliver apps faster. No longer is infrastructure the blocker. If you want to get new functions out there, you can change your app on the fly,” Beighton said.

Rackspace cloud architect Wayne Walls also highlighted one customer case study as a cautionary tale about choosing the right cloud approach.

HubSpot is a software-as-a-service (SaaS) firm offering marketing tools, but it found that as it increased its customer base, an increasing fraction of its server instances running on public cloud infrastructure were failing.

“The problem with public cloud is that while you might be saving money, you’re not getting rock-solid infrastructure like you can if you build it yourself, so you’re going to have to work around that and build resiliency into your software,” Walls said.

However, HubSpot found itself constrained by the API set offered by its cloud provider, and instead turned to OpenStack, the platform co-founded by Rackspace.

Because OpenStack has an open API and is an open source project in the hands of a developer community, Hubspot was able to request the features it needed and see them implemented, according to Walls.

Walls also warned that many firms looking to use public cloud infrastructure are often tempted purely by the potential capital expenditure savings on hardware and technical support, and do not see the pitfalls.

“Moving to cloud is not just a forklift job where you take an application and drop it into the cloud and suddenly you get all the advantages. Cloud is a new platform that you must design for,” he said.

“However, many cloud users have done exactly this. They looked at public cloud pricing and said, ‘Wow, I don’t need to pay the VMware tax anymore,’ then got bitten. Running clouds is not easy – people still want that escalation point, where you need to call someone to fix things, which is why support will always matter, even with cloud,” he added.

Actian Corporation, the firm formerly known as Ingres, has unveiled two new platforms aimed at helping firms tackle the challenges of the ‘Age of Data’ by offering tools for big data analytics and integrating data between enterprise applications and services.

Available now, the Actian DataCloud and ParAccel Big Data Analytics pull together technologies the firm has gained from a rash of recent acquisitions, including ParAccel, Pervasive Software and Versant Corporation, as well as Actian’s own Vectorwise database.

The Actian DataCloud is, as its name suggests, a cloud-hosted platform intended to offer seamless data integration between on-premise enterprise applications and cloud-based services.

It offers three tiers, based on the level of control and customisation customers require: Invisible Connect provides pre-built one-click integration, while Basic Connect lets customers conduct some self-serve mapping, and Advanced Connect provides for full customisation, data profiling and data matching.

Actian DataCloud is actually hosted on Amazon Web Services (AWS), using that platform to deliver scalability on demand for customers, the firm said.

Meanwhile, the ParAccel Big Data Analytics platform is a suite of tools designed to deliver real-time analysis of large data sets from which customers can derive useful business intelligence.

However, while there are already many solutions for big data and analytics, Actian chief executive Steve Shine told V3 that its new solution is designed to handle the entire data lifecycle of these large datasets, and to deal with constant, ever-changing data feeds.

“We spoke to customers and realised that the [Vectorwise] database alone wasn’t what they wanted. Data has a lifecycle, and you have to look at that lifecycle from the source through the enrichment and optimisation stages through to analysis. You need to do massive Hadoop-level processing, and then serve up the results in the right way,” he said.

“We had the database, but we also needed the data integration and the connector capabilities, that’s why we acquired Pervasive, because they had these connectors to SAP and other enterprise applications and data sources,” Shine explained.

The purpose of the new platform is to enable any company to be able to exploit big data and make use of the vast amounts of digital data feeds that are becoming available, from sources as disparate as social networks or connected sensors.

“The Age of Data is only just getting started. The volume of digital data out there is going to increase exponentially, and we want anyone to be able to take advantage. Big data applications are only just the beginning,” said Shine.

While Actian’s DataCloud is a hosted service, the firm expects the ParAccel Big Data Analytics platform will mostly be deployed on-premise, although it could be hosted, Actian said.

However, the firm has taken care to ensure all of the components to ensure they can be deployed on standard servers and are architected to scale to meet customer requirements, according to Shine.

“What we’ve done is make sure every part can run on commodity hardware and is optimised for the latest processors and clustering,” he said.

For the Actian DataCloud, customers will be charged on a simple metered per-transaction basis, but the ParAccel Big Data Analytics platform is a different matter. The exact implementation of this will depend greatly on a customer’s exact requirements and the volumes of data they need to handle, and so a certain amount of customisation will be necessary.

“A big part of our business model is partnering with system integrators who specialise in serving the needs of pharmaceutical companies or the retail industry, for example,” Shine said.

Customers will also still be able to license individual components such as Vectorwise, if they desire.

Microsoft has announced one of the biggest reorganisations in the company’s history, as it seeks to adapt itself to better meet the challenges of today’s fast-paced IT industry. Existing business units are being swept away to be replaced by four engineering areas comprising OS, Apps, Cloud, and Devices.

The radical restructuring of the software giant was unveiled in an email from Microsoft chief Steve Ballmer to all employees, which has been posted on the firm’s website.

In the email Ballmer said that the changes, “will enable us to execute even better on our strategy to deliver a family of devices and services that best empower people for the activities they value most and the enterprise extensions and services that are most valuable to business.”

To do this, Microsoft is aiming to present itself as “one company, not a collection of divisional strategies”. This strategy is aiming at driving the company forward with a set of shared goals through which its product line-up will be seen holistically rather than seperate areas.

“All parts of the company will share and contribute to the success of core offerings, like Windows, Windows Phone, Xbox, Surface, Office 365 and our EA offer, Bing, Skype, Dynamics, Azure and our servers. All parts of the company will contribute to activating high-value experiences for our customers,” Ballmer said.

To effect this change, the company is being reordered around functions such as engineering, marketing, business development, advanced strategy and research, finance, HR, and legal.

The Engineering function will be split across four engineering teams targeting OS, Apps, Cloud, and Devices, while Dynamics will be kept separate “as it continues to need special focus and represents significant opportunity,” according to Ballmer.

Of these areas, the Operating Systems Engineering Group will be led by Terry Myerson and will encompass all OS work across Microsoft’s mobile devices, PCs, and back-end systems.

The Devices and Studios Engineering Group is being headed by Julie Larson-Green, covering all hardware development from the smallest to the largest devices.

Meanwhile, the Applications and Services Engineering Group led by Qi Lu covers applications and service core technologies across productivity, communication, search and other information categories.

Satya Nadella is heading up the Cloud and Enterprise Engineering Group, developing technologies datacentre and database technologies and other specific tools for enterprise IT scenarios.

The move is a monumental upheaval for Microsoft and its employees, but one that Ballmer said is necessary for the company to move forward and meet the challenges it faces.

“This is a big undertaking. It touches nearly every piece of what we do and how we work. It changes our org structure, the way we collaborate, how we allocate resources, how we best empower our engineers and how we market,” he said.

EMC is updating its Data Domain, Avamar, NetWorker and Mozy data storage lines.

The company said that the update would bring support for additional storage platforms along with additional performance and scalability features.

Among the updates will be four new Data Domain systems. The revamped software will sport up to 10 times the scalability and four times the performance of previous models. EMC claims that the new systems will also reduce customer cost per gigabyte by 38 percent, helping to reduce costs brought on by the rise in virtualised architectures and expanding data centres. The company claims that the new systems will be able to handle up to 540 sources of data.

EMC president of Backup Recovery Systems Guy Churchward said: “Accidental architectures are an outgrowth of users addressing individual data protection challenges reactively as they arise, and applying costly silo’d or ‘one size fits all’ products and solutions that become difficult to manage, optimise and pay for.

“The products we’ve announced today pave the way for our customers to consolidate their data protection strategy and infrastructure, and enable them to proactively prepare for the data protection challenges that accompany transformational IT initiatives.”

In addition to the new Data Domain systems, EMC is expanding its compatibility with outside software vendors. The new systems will support SAP’s HANA and Oracle’s Exadata storage lines as well as OpenText, IBM and Dell storage platforms.

The company is also adding new features to its Avamar platform to allow VM Instant Access and introducing Active Directory compatibility to the Mozy cloud backup platform. The company said that the new tools will be available in the third quarter of the year. The software will also be offered through the VSPEX platform.

EMC is updating its Data Domain, Avamar, Networker and Mozy data storage lines.

The company said that the update would bring support for additional storage platforms along with additional performance and scalability features.

Among the updates will be four new Data Domain systems. The revamped software will sport up to 10 times the scalability and four times the performance of previous models. EMC claims that the new systems will also reduce customer cost per gigabyte by 38 percent, helping to reduce costs brought on by the rise in virtualised architectures and expanding datacentres. The company claims that the new systems will be able to handle up to 540 sources of data.

“Accidental architectures are an outgrowth of users addressing individual data protection challenges reactively as they arise, and applying costly silo’d or ‘one size fits all’ products and solutions that become difficult to manage, optimize and pay for,” said EMC president of backup recovery and systems Guy Churchward.

“The products we’ve announced today pave the way for our customers to consolidate their data protection strategy and infrastructure, and enable them to proactively prepare for the data protection challenges that accompany transformational IT initiatives.”

In addition to the new Data Domain Systems, EMC is expanding its compatibility with outside software vendors. The new systems will support SAP’s HANA and Oracle’s Exadata storage lines as well as OpenText, IBM and Dell storage platforms.

The company is also adding new features to its Avamar platform to allow VM Instant Access and introducing Active Directory compatibility to the Mozy cloud backup platform. The company said that the new tools will be available in the third quarter of the year. The software will also be offered through the VSPEX platform.