- IBM SmartCloud Services and SoftLayer provide cloud computing infrastructure and services including public cloud instances, bare metal servers, private clouds, storage, networking, security, and platform management tools.
- SoftLayer is a global cloud provider with over 21,000 customers and data centers worldwide that offers flexible, on-demand computing resources.
- IBM's portfolio provides hybrid cloud solutions to help businesses optimize existing systems and drive innovation through new cloud technologies.
IBM SmartCloud e SoftLayer: il Cloud senza compromessi
Una soluzione IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service) appropriata può fare la differenza per superare la concorrenza con idee innovative.
Per massimizzare la velocità e l'agilità del cloud, IBM offre una vasta gamma di soluzioni Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) e oltre 100 applicazioni Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) e funzionalità Business process-as-a-Service (BPaaS) con la sicurezza, la disponibilità e la flessibilità necessarie per rispondere alle esigenze di innovazione delle aziende
OpenStack Atlanta Summit - IBM, SoftLayer, and OpenStack: Present and FutureMichael Fork
Breakout presentation from the OpenStack Juno Summit in May 2014 that gives a brief overview of IBM SoftLayer, how it applies to OpenStack, and what IBM is doing to make OpenStack simpler with SoftLayer.
Video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrcsPz5njFU
Blue Box Cloud Dedicated private cloud as a service (PCaaS) is the logical solution for organizations that demand the security and control of a private cloud with the ease of use of a public cloud. Powered by OpenStack, quick to deploy, highly flexible and fully scalable, Blue Box Cloud Dedicated offers month-to-month and 12-month term pricing options. Get started in a data center near you.
IBM SmartCloud e SoftLayer: il Cloud senza compromessi
Una soluzione IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service) appropriata può fare la differenza per superare la concorrenza con idee innovative.
Per massimizzare la velocità e l'agilità del cloud, IBM offre una vasta gamma di soluzioni Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) e oltre 100 applicazioni Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) e funzionalità Business process-as-a-Service (BPaaS) con la sicurezza, la disponibilità e la flessibilità necessarie per rispondere alle esigenze di innovazione delle aziende
OpenStack Atlanta Summit - IBM, SoftLayer, and OpenStack: Present and FutureMichael Fork
Breakout presentation from the OpenStack Juno Summit in May 2014 that gives a brief overview of IBM SoftLayer, how it applies to OpenStack, and what IBM is doing to make OpenStack simpler with SoftLayer.
Video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrcsPz5njFU
Blue Box Cloud Dedicated private cloud as a service (PCaaS) is the logical solution for organizations that demand the security and control of a private cloud with the ease of use of a public cloud. Powered by OpenStack, quick to deploy, highly flexible and fully scalable, Blue Box Cloud Dedicated offers month-to-month and 12-month term pricing options. Get started in a data center near you.
Maintaining a Healthy OpenStack Cloud: What does it take?Tyler Britten
One of the most important tasks that a cloud operator needs to focus on, after deployment, is effective monitoring. But what are the best tools to use and what metrics should be tracked to ensure a healthy OpenStack cloud? Join us to hear from Blue Box, an IBM Company—they specialize in operating OpenStack clouds. Find out how they monitor customers’ clouds and the lessons they've learned from being in the trenches of deploying OpenStack in production. They'll focus on the tools and the methodologies used to monitor OpenStack clouds and to proactively resolve issues.
SoftLayer Bluemix User Summit 2015 Tokyo - Blue Box Breakout SessionJesse Proudman
Breakout presentation from Softlayer Bluemix User Summit 2015 hosted in Tokyo, Japan. A deeper dive on the Blue Box technology and offering, architecture and use cases.
IBM Cloud Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)- Feb 2019 by Gianfranco Mollojoemolls
Presenting IBM Cloud IaaS during "Tech Up Tour 2019" to Customers and BPs @ IBM HQ in Rome, Italy
#ibmcloud #digitaltransformation #infrastructuremodernization #multicloud
This presentation is about -
Based on as a service model,
• SAAS (Software as a service),
• PAAS (Platform as a service),
• IAAS (Infrastructure as a service,
Based on deployment or access model,
• Public Cloud,
• Private Cloud,
• Hybrid Cloud,
For more details you can visit -
http://vibranttechnologies.co.in/salesforce-classes-in-mumbai.html
The IBM Open Cloud Architecture (and Platform)Florian Georg
Talk at WebSphere Global Solution Exchange (GSE) - May 2014 in Erfurt (Germany).
Overview of IBM's open take on cloud architecture + a bit more details about our CloudFoundry based PaaS, IBM BlueMix
DEVNET-1008 Private or Public or Hybrid ? Which Cloud Should I choose?Cisco DevNet
With the advent of cloud computing, the choices for delivery and consumption of applications have drastically increased. With choices comes complexity. Enterprises often find themselves struggling to decide if public, private or hybrid cloud is the best choice for their needs. This session will talk about the pros and cons of public, private and hybrid cloud. It will also describe how Cisco Intercloud Fabric (ICF) can provide the best of both worlds.
SoftLayer is Global cloud provider who provide cloud computing resources to customer worldwide. SoftLayer is IBM Company and operated under IBM Global Technology Services. IBM commit to expand SoftLayer cloud data center from 13 datacenter to 26 datacenter by end of 2015.
This presentation gives an overview of SoftLayer cloud capability which more URL information at the end of presentation. You can look for additional information of SoftLayer e.g. price, location, bandwidth from their web site at http://www.softlayer.com
Achieving Scalability and speed with IBM Solutions - IaaS SoftlayerAna Alves Sequeira
En esta presentacion podreis ver varios ejemplo de empresas que se han movido al cloud con IBM Softlayer.
Los beneficios del mismo para mas escalabilidad y velocidad, con IBM IaaS - SoftLayer.
Maintaining a Healthy OpenStack Cloud: What does it take?Tyler Britten
One of the most important tasks that a cloud operator needs to focus on, after deployment, is effective monitoring. But what are the best tools to use and what metrics should be tracked to ensure a healthy OpenStack cloud? Join us to hear from Blue Box, an IBM Company—they specialize in operating OpenStack clouds. Find out how they monitor customers’ clouds and the lessons they've learned from being in the trenches of deploying OpenStack in production. They'll focus on the tools and the methodologies used to monitor OpenStack clouds and to proactively resolve issues.
SoftLayer Bluemix User Summit 2015 Tokyo - Blue Box Breakout SessionJesse Proudman
Breakout presentation from Softlayer Bluemix User Summit 2015 hosted in Tokyo, Japan. A deeper dive on the Blue Box technology and offering, architecture and use cases.
IBM Cloud Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)- Feb 2019 by Gianfranco Mollojoemolls
Presenting IBM Cloud IaaS during "Tech Up Tour 2019" to Customers and BPs @ IBM HQ in Rome, Italy
#ibmcloud #digitaltransformation #infrastructuremodernization #multicloud
This presentation is about -
Based on as a service model,
• SAAS (Software as a service),
• PAAS (Platform as a service),
• IAAS (Infrastructure as a service,
Based on deployment or access model,
• Public Cloud,
• Private Cloud,
• Hybrid Cloud,
For more details you can visit -
http://vibranttechnologies.co.in/salesforce-classes-in-mumbai.html
The IBM Open Cloud Architecture (and Platform)Florian Georg
Talk at WebSphere Global Solution Exchange (GSE) - May 2014 in Erfurt (Germany).
Overview of IBM's open take on cloud architecture + a bit more details about our CloudFoundry based PaaS, IBM BlueMix
DEVNET-1008 Private or Public or Hybrid ? Which Cloud Should I choose?Cisco DevNet
With the advent of cloud computing, the choices for delivery and consumption of applications have drastically increased. With choices comes complexity. Enterprises often find themselves struggling to decide if public, private or hybrid cloud is the best choice for their needs. This session will talk about the pros and cons of public, private and hybrid cloud. It will also describe how Cisco Intercloud Fabric (ICF) can provide the best of both worlds.
SoftLayer is Global cloud provider who provide cloud computing resources to customer worldwide. SoftLayer is IBM Company and operated under IBM Global Technology Services. IBM commit to expand SoftLayer cloud data center from 13 datacenter to 26 datacenter by end of 2015.
This presentation gives an overview of SoftLayer cloud capability which more URL information at the end of presentation. You can look for additional information of SoftLayer e.g. price, location, bandwidth from their web site at http://www.softlayer.com
Achieving Scalability and speed with IBM Solutions - IaaS SoftlayerAna Alves Sequeira
En esta presentacion podreis ver varios ejemplo de empresas que se han movido al cloud con IBM Softlayer.
Los beneficios del mismo para mas escalabilidad y velocidad, con IBM IaaS - SoftLayer.
IBM BlueMix Architecture and Deep Dive (Powered by CloudFoundry) Animesh Singh
meetup.com/Bluemix
meetup.com/CloudFoundry/
In this meetup, we discussed the architecture and demonstrated IBM BlueMix, public Platform-as-a-Service offering based on Cloud Foundry
IBM Softlayer Bluemix Marketplace
API Economy
Infrastructure as a Service
Platform as a Service
Software as a Service
IaaS PaaS SaaS
Register for Bluemix at http://ibm.biz/BluemixSBSS
See Softlayer at http://ibm.biz/SBSlideShareSL
Join the Marketplace at http://ibm.biz/SBSlideShareMP
Jelastic Hybrid Cloud on Google Cloud Platform Ruslan Synytsky
Jelastic can be installed on top of Google Cloud Compute Engine as Virtual Private Cluster. At the same time enterprises can use same version of Jelastic Private Cloud on-premise. It provides 100% compatibility between private and public clouds, and full automation for easy migration between the clouds.
100% compatibility between Public and Private Clouds is the key requirement for fast adoption by enterprises.
Similar to Softlayer an IBM Compay . Connaissez vous le cloud de l'avenir (20)
IBM X-Force Threat Intelligence Quarterly,
4Q 2014
Get a closer look at today’s security risks—from new threats arising from within the
Internet of Things, to the sources of malware and botnet infections.
Essentials of Automations: The Art of Triggers and Actions in FMESafe Software
In this second installment of our Essentials of Automations webinar series, we’ll explore the landscape of triggers and actions, guiding you through the nuances of authoring and adapting workspaces for seamless automations. Gain an understanding of the full spectrum of triggers and actions available in FME, empowering you to enhance your workspaces for efficient automation.
We’ll kick things off by showcasing the most commonly used event-based triggers, introducing you to various automation workflows like manual triggers, schedules, directory watchers, and more. Plus, see how these elements play out in real scenarios.
Whether you’re tweaking your current setup or building from the ground up, this session will arm you with the tools and insights needed to transform your FME usage into a powerhouse of productivity. Join us to discover effective strategies that simplify complex processes, enhancing your productivity and transforming your data management practices with FME. Let’s turn complexity into clarity and make your workspaces work wonders!
Why You Should Replace Windows 11 with Nitrux Linux 3.5.0 for enhanced perfor...SOFTTECHHUB
The choice of an operating system plays a pivotal role in shaping our computing experience. For decades, Microsoft's Windows has dominated the market, offering a familiar and widely adopted platform for personal and professional use. However, as technological advancements continue to push the boundaries of innovation, alternative operating systems have emerged, challenging the status quo and offering users a fresh perspective on computing.
One such alternative that has garnered significant attention and acclaim is Nitrux Linux 3.5.0, a sleek, powerful, and user-friendly Linux distribution that promises to redefine the way we interact with our devices. With its focus on performance, security, and customization, Nitrux Linux presents a compelling case for those seeking to break free from the constraints of proprietary software and embrace the freedom and flexibility of open-source computing.
Epistemic Interaction - tuning interfaces to provide information for AI supportAlan Dix
Paper presented at SYNERGY workshop at AVI 2024, Genoa, Italy. 3rd June 2024
https://alandix.com/academic/papers/synergy2024-epistemic/
As machine learning integrates deeper into human-computer interactions, the concept of epistemic interaction emerges, aiming to refine these interactions to enhance system adaptability. This approach encourages minor, intentional adjustments in user behaviour to enrich the data available for system learning. This paper introduces epistemic interaction within the context of human-system communication, illustrating how deliberate interaction design can improve system understanding and adaptation. Through concrete examples, we demonstrate the potential of epistemic interaction to significantly advance human-computer interaction by leveraging intuitive human communication strategies to inform system design and functionality, offering a novel pathway for enriching user-system engagements.
Pushing the limits of ePRTC: 100ns holdover for 100 daysAdtran
At WSTS 2024, Alon Stern explored the topic of parametric holdover and explained how recent research findings can be implemented in real-world PNT networks to achieve 100 nanoseconds of accuracy for up to 100 days.
Elevating Tactical DDD Patterns Through Object CalisthenicsDorra BARTAGUIZ
After immersing yourself in the blue book and its red counterpart, attending DDD-focused conferences, and applying tactical patterns, you're left with a crucial question: How do I ensure my design is effective? Tactical patterns within Domain-Driven Design (DDD) serve as guiding principles for creating clear and manageable domain models. However, achieving success with these patterns requires additional guidance. Interestingly, we've observed that a set of constraints initially designed for training purposes remarkably aligns with effective pattern implementation, offering a more ‘mechanical’ approach. Let's explore together how Object Calisthenics can elevate the design of your tactical DDD patterns, offering concrete help for those venturing into DDD for the first time!
GraphSummit Singapore | The Art of the Possible with Graph - Q2 2024Neo4j
Neha Bajwa, Vice President of Product Marketing, Neo4j
Join us as we explore breakthrough innovations enabled by interconnected data and AI. Discover firsthand how organizations use relationships in data to uncover contextual insights and solve our most pressing challenges – from optimizing supply chains, detecting fraud, and improving customer experiences to accelerating drug discoveries.
Dr. Sean Tan, Head of Data Science, Changi Airport Group
Discover how Changi Airport Group (CAG) leverages graph technologies and generative AI to revolutionize their search capabilities. This session delves into the unique search needs of CAG’s diverse passengers and customers, showcasing how graph data structures enhance the accuracy and relevance of AI-generated search results, mitigating the risk of “hallucinations” and improving the overall customer journey.
Removing Uninteresting Bytes in Software FuzzingAftab Hussain
Imagine a world where software fuzzing, the process of mutating bytes in test seeds to uncover hidden and erroneous program behaviors, becomes faster and more effective. A lot depends on the initial seeds, which can significantly dictate the trajectory of a fuzzing campaign, particularly in terms of how long it takes to uncover interesting behaviour in your code. We introduce DIAR, a technique designed to speedup fuzzing campaigns by pinpointing and eliminating those uninteresting bytes in the seeds. Picture this: instead of wasting valuable resources on meaningless mutations in large, bloated seeds, DIAR removes the unnecessary bytes, streamlining the entire process.
In this work, we equipped AFL, a popular fuzzer, with DIAR and examined two critical Linux libraries -- Libxml's xmllint, a tool for parsing xml documents, and Binutil's readelf, an essential debugging and security analysis command-line tool used to display detailed information about ELF (Executable and Linkable Format). Our preliminary results show that AFL+DIAR does not only discover new paths more quickly but also achieves higher coverage overall. This work thus showcases how starting with lean and optimized seeds can lead to faster, more comprehensive fuzzing campaigns -- and DIAR helps you find such seeds.
- These are slides of the talk given at IEEE International Conference on Software Testing Verification and Validation Workshop, ICSTW 2022.
Transcript: Selling digital books in 2024: Insights from industry leaders - T...BookNet Canada
The publishing industry has been selling digital audiobooks and ebooks for over a decade and has found its groove. What’s changed? What has stayed the same? Where do we go from here? Join a group of leading sales peers from across the industry for a conversation about the lessons learned since the popularization of digital books, best practices, digital book supply chain management, and more.
Link to video recording: https://bnctechforum.ca/sessions/selling-digital-books-in-2024-insights-from-industry-leaders/
Presented by BookNet Canada on May 28, 2024, with support from the Department of Canadian Heritage.
UiPath Test Automation using UiPath Test Suite series, part 4DianaGray10
Welcome to UiPath Test Automation using UiPath Test Suite series part 4. In this session, we will cover Test Manager overview along with SAP heatmap.
The UiPath Test Manager overview with SAP heatmap webinar offers a concise yet comprehensive exploration of the role of a Test Manager within SAP environments, coupled with the utilization of heatmaps for effective testing strategies.
Participants will gain insights into the responsibilities, challenges, and best practices associated with test management in SAP projects. Additionally, the webinar delves into the significance of heatmaps as a visual aid for identifying testing priorities, areas of risk, and resource allocation within SAP landscapes. Through this session, attendees can expect to enhance their understanding of test management principles while learning practical approaches to optimize testing processes in SAP environments using heatmap visualization techniques
What will you get from this session?
1. Insights into SAP testing best practices
2. Heatmap utilization for testing
3. Optimization of testing processes
4. Demo
Topics covered:
Execution from the test manager
Orchestrator execution result
Defect reporting
SAP heatmap example with demo
Speaker:
Deepak Rai, Automation Practice Lead, Boundaryless Group and UiPath MVP
Threats to mobile devices are more prevalent and increasing in scope and complexity. Users of mobile devices desire to take full advantage of the features
available on those devices, but many of the features provide convenience and capability but sacrifice security. This best practices guide outlines steps the users can take to better protect personal devices and information.
UiPath Test Automation using UiPath Test Suite series, part 5DianaGray10
Welcome to UiPath Test Automation using UiPath Test Suite series part 5. In this session, we will cover CI/CD with devops.
Topics covered:
CI/CD with in UiPath
End-to-end overview of CI/CD pipeline with Azure devops
Speaker:
Lyndsey Byblow, Test Suite Sales Engineer @ UiPath, Inc.
Generative AI Deep Dive: Advancing from Proof of Concept to ProductionAggregage
Join Maher Hanafi, VP of Engineering at Betterworks, in this new session where he'll share a practical framework to transform Gen AI prototypes into impactful products! He'll delve into the complexities of data collection and management, model selection and optimization, and ensuring security, scalability, and responsible use.
DevOps and Testing slides at DASA ConnectKari Kakkonen
My and Rik Marselis slides at 30.5.2024 DASA Connect conference. We discuss about what is testing, then what is agile testing and finally what is Testing in DevOps. Finally we had lovely workshop with the participants trying to find out different ways to think about quality and testing in different parts of the DevOps infinity loop.
A tale of scale & speed: How the US Navy is enabling software delivery from l...sonjaschweigert1
Rapid and secure feature delivery is a goal across every application team and every branch of the DoD. The Navy’s DevSecOps platform, Party Barge, has achieved:
- Reduction in onboarding time from 5 weeks to 1 day
- Improved developer experience and productivity through actionable findings and reduction of false positives
- Maintenance of superior security standards and inherent policy enforcement with Authorization to Operate (ATO)
Development teams can ship efficiently and ensure applications are cyber ready for Navy Authorizing Officials (AOs). In this webinar, Sigma Defense and Anchore will give attendees a look behind the scenes and demo secure pipeline automation and security artifacts that speed up application ATO and time to production.
We will cover:
- How to remove silos in DevSecOps
- How to build efficient development pipeline roles and component templates
- How to deliver security artifacts that matter for ATO’s (SBOMs, vulnerability reports, and policy evidence)
- How to streamline operations with automated policy checks on container images
Those are some of the mega trends and we see that leadership is responding. But lets take a look at the scale of the challenge. While the CEO is seeing technology as a lever for change and transformation, the CIO faces some truly daunting. The data on this chart comes from IDC. Since 2000 we have seen overall spend in IT grow by 89%, the Management of IT is growing at 235%. This is an trend that is not sustainable and one that can wreak havoc for companies if they do not respond, and respond intelligently and with a corresponding strategy.
Based on open standards technologies and a broad ecosystem of industry partners, IBM has built SmartCloud technologies for every stage of cloud adoption. The value to our clients comes from the interoperability it enables within their own infrastructures. As all our cloud technology is built on top of a common open-standards based reference architecture, its gives our clients flexibility and choice in how they consume cloud technologies. With greater confidence that things will work together with a degree of portability….enabling a hybrid approach.Our cloud capabilities are organized into 3 simple areas. SmartCloud Foundation, the integrated set of cloud enablement technologies for private and hybrid Clouds. These are technologies that our customers can use to build their own private clouds. SmartCloud Services, the IBM cloud platform designed for enterprise-class service delivery with PaaS/IaaS managed services. IBM SmartCloud service delivery platform is built upon the very same SmartCloud Foundation technologies that are clients are using. And SmartCloud Solutions, our growing list of business and industry solutions on the Cloud offered as SaaS. Capabilities such as Collboration, B2B Integration, Digitial Marketing Optimization… all delivered via SaaS.
We’ll talk about it next – but it’s clear that the July 8th 2013 acquisition of SoftLayer, an IBM Company, significantly expands the options that IBM can offer in managed services:SoftLayerBare metal to virtualized to address practically all applications – SoftLayer provides a continuum of servers and services that a customer can deploy right from a browser – all by themselves. Or a partner , ISV, SaaS provider can deploy this platform as the foundation for innovative applications. Private or Public, Dedicated or Shared deployment options – SoftLayer allows for mixing and matching servers and services in either a private or public configuration – dedicated or shared. Robust, reliable performance and uptime for demanding born-on-the-cloud applications – SoftLayers delvers a platform that is up to the task – of the most demanding cloud-centric born on the web application. IBM SmartCloud Enterprise+Complementing SoftLayer is SmartCloud Enterprise+ - ideal for Cloud-enabled systems of record. Fully managed ITIL compliant services delivered by IBM helps drive business value, competitive advantage, peace of mind – SmartCloud Enterprise+ gives you expert management of your cloud infrastructure and workloads. This is vital for supporting workloads that run the business. Runs production workloads, including SAP and Oracle applications – Workloads and applications like SAP and Oracle… With SmartCloud Enterprise+ you can be confidence that these applications that traditionally have run inside the data center – can now be deployed with confidence in the cloud. Hardware, hypervisor and isolation elements included – With SmartCloud Enterprise+ you get a choice of hardware – System x (486) and System P – and you get a choice of hypervisor - VMWare, and PowerVM… DevOps IBM SmartCloud Application ServicesAgile platform as a service with support for JAVA, PHP, and Mobile applicationsSuitable for wide range of enterprise applications – In addition to the IaaS, SmartCloud Services offers Devops – that deliver a platform that allows customers to build on JAVA, or PHP - building for the web or mobile.. All of that is delivered with SmartCloud Application Services on SmartCloud Enterprise. With that as the foundation – lets turn our attention to SoftLayer.
On July 8th 2013 IBM closed on the acquisition of SoftLayer, an IBM Company. SoftLayer delivers a unique set of world class capabilities – that together with the technology and business expertise and experience of IBM sets IBM in a whole different class than competitors on the market today.
Let’s start by introducing SoftLayer, an IBM Company. SoftLayer is one of the largest cloud infrastructure providers in the world, with more than 100,000 devices under management for 21,000 customers in 140 countries. SoftLayer operates a global footprint of 13 data centers and 17 network points-of-presence around the world, filled with servers, storage, routers, firewalls and load balancers. But the heart of this service isn’t servers or network cables. It’s a software platform that provides a complete operating system for the data center – that automates every aspect of infrastructure as a service – and that allows us to deliver the industry’s broadest and highest performing cloud platform.A brief history – SoftLayer was founded in 2005 by a team of technology and business leaders with a wealth of experience providing managed hosting and infrastructure services. Their vision was to build a new kind of on-demand hosting company, driven by software automation and sophisticated management tools – cloud computing before the term was widely used, you might say. By 2013 SoftLayer had become a global company with a management team comprised of seasoned hosting and cloud computing leaders; the market leader in Web hosting and home to more of the world’s top 100,000 sites and apps than any other provider. In July we were acquired by IBM, combining our leadership and innovation in cloud with the technology industry’s global innovation leader.
There are a couple of things that make SoftLayer a very different company from a product and philosophy standpoint, and the first, inevitably, requires a quick discussion of cloud computing from a definitional standpoint.It's tempting to dismiss "the cloud" as marketing hype – a meaningless term applied to a bewilderingly broad range of solutions – but cloud computing at the infrastructure level actually has a clear definition. Some would try and narrowly tailor that in terms of a mandatory technical reference architecture – x virtualization software on y hardware platform – but that's going too far in the other direction, and an approach generally advocated by organizations who have a vested interest in the manufacture and sale of a particular component.Our own view, and it aligns with prevailing definitions published by organizations including the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and Gartner, is that cloud infrastructure can best be defined as an operational model for the delivery of computing-as-a-service across a network in a way that provides capacity on demand from a pool of computing resources that provides significant scalability and rapid elasticity, consumption-based pricing, and self-provisioning.While the initial cloud revolution was centered on virtualized, multi-tenancy clouds, this is only one model of compute, and one that isn’t necessarily well suited to the full breadth of workloads, use cases and industries. As cloud has mainstreamed and matured, organizations are increasingly looking to take advantage of the power of consumptive, real-time computing without compromising performance, security and control. They want to choose when to use virtualization and when not, control precisely where their infrastructure is physically located and shape their infrastructure to their application, not shoehorn their app into someone else’s idea of the right platform.
SoftLayer, uniquely, has designed and deployed a global, interconnected platform that meets the key operational and economic requirements of cloud infrastructure across a broad portfolio of infrastructure - dedicated and shared devices, physical and virtual servers, hourly compute instances and four-way, octo-core bare metal, along with a wealth of storage, networking and security components.Our customers can take these building blocks and deploy public cloud instances, build private clouds on their choice of virtualization stack, leverage the raw power of bare metal on demand, or combine these solutions into distributed, hybrid architectures. Build what you want, or leverage our turn-key big data and private cloud solutions to design and deploy complex, scalable infrastructure online in real time. It’s all delivered as a unified service, managed from a single pane of glass via our Web portal or mobile apps, and accessible via a powerful, full-featured API. One bill, one portal, one platform.It's a model that provides users with a greater range of choice, flexibility and control than any other cloud infrastructure solution in the industry.
So how do we do it? We operate 13 data centers around the world. We’ve augmented that core footprint with additional network points of presence in Tokyo, Hong Kong, Frankfurt, London and several locations within the United States, with the goal of delivering a sub 40 millisecond experience to our customers and their customers across as wide a footprint as possible. These network points of presence and our global private network allows customers in Tokyo to connect at one hop away from infrastructure in Singapore or San Jose, and allow customers to deploy cloud instances in Amsterdam and bare metal in Houston yet allow them to communicate with each other across the same network segment as if they were in the same rack together.
Let’s talk a little more about the network – it’s perhaps the fundamental component in terms of performance, yet it’s rarely discussed in detail by hosting providers. We’ve made a significant investment at SoftLayer in building a network of networks; we think our network architecture and performance stand alone in the industry. Each physical server has five network cards. Two redundant connections to the public network, which aggregates connectivity from multiple tier 1 network providers for performance and redundancy. Two more NICs provide redundant connections to our global private network, providing secure point-to-point intra and inter data center connectivity along with access to a suite of SoftLayer services including storage platforms, DNS, security scans and OS reload services. A final network connection provides access to an out-of-band management network for access to our management platform and API. The entire network and services stack provides native support for IP version 6, ensuring that as this critical transition takes place over the next few years, you’ll be well ahead of the game.
On top of this triple network architecture we’ve deployed a highly standardized and modular compute platform. Row upon row of x86 server sits patiently waiting to be pressed into service. You can deploy virtual instances into a shared public cloud environment, build high-performance dedicated servers or provision private clouds with your choice of several different virtualization stacks. Connect virtualized and bare metal, leverage onboard storage – SAS, SATA or SSD – SAN and NAS solutions or build on top of our global Object Storage platform. Add firewalls and load balancers for security and availability. Provision everything from a robust management portal or build autoscaling functionality directly into your app via our API. Deploy physical or virtual from a unified, image-based server provisioning system, and organize your infrastructure into Virtual Racks for ease of management and communication. You can start with a virtual server, snapshot with our Flex Images technology and instantly deploy a mirror image on a physical device – all the necessary conversion happens behind the scenes. Go the opposite direction and move from dedicated to virtual, or leverage a suite of features on bare metal – such as server cloning and image-based deployment – previously available only on a virtualized platform.
The heart of the platform, and indeed the heart of SoftLayer, is automation. We automate for a number of reasons; chief among them to improve customer control and transparency, reduce human error and optimize costs and agility. The SoftLayer API provides control over more than 200 services including server acquisition, reboots and reloads, network and storage configuration, security and systems monitoring. We support REST, SOAP and XML-RPC interfaces and our online SoftLayer Development Network provides support, code samples and documentation to get you up and running quickly.
In addition to the API, (and built on top of it), we’ve got a full-featured, secure Web-based portal for complete management of your infrastructure. We’ve also got mobile apps available for all the leading devices including iPhone and iPad, Android smartphones and tablets, and Windows Mobile devices.
What infrastructure products and services live on SoftLayer’s on-demand global cloud platform? The simple answer is “all of them.” We built our platform for Internet scale, and when we talk about “Internet Scale,” we’re talking about supporting companies whose apps have a few thousand users one day and a few million the next. To accommodate that kind of spike in demand, we knew that every service in our portfolio had to be automated and had to work well together. To understand the big picture of what that automation looks like from a service perspective, we can break out SoftLayer’s service portfolio into a few logical segments and touch on common customer use cases as well as SoftLayer differentiators.
To meet the growing demand for high-performance big data environments, we worked with 10gen and Basho to streamline the process of building and growing high-performance MongoDB and Riak solutions built on bare metal servers with local storage, significantly outperforming commodity public clouds running the same software. In the process of building our push-button Solution Designer, we also incorporated best practices for setup and configuration to guarantee the best possible results for our customers.
Finally, a quick look at our customer base will confirm that the innovators, visionaries and leaders building the next-generation of Internet scale apps are coming to SoftLayer. And this technology is deployed at scale today. Whether it is at companies like:FitBit . Internet centric companies and products like the Fitbit Tracker, a wireless-enabled wearable device that measures data such as the number of steps walked, quality of sleep, and other personal metrics. Or Bump an application created by Bump Technologies for the Apple's iOS and Google's Android operating systems, that allows two smartphone users to physically bump their phones together to transfer contact information, photos, and files to each other over the Internet. But it’s also enterpise companies.. Companies like:Repsol S.A. a Spanish multinational oil and gas company based in Madrid, Spain. It is the 15th largest petroleum refining company according to the Fortune Global 500 list,[3] employing over 40,000 people worldwide.Or LAN Airlines S.A. a group of South American Airlines based in Santiago, Chile and part of LATAM Airlines Group, Latin America's largest Airline holding.So we have internet centric innovators, and game-changing companies – who have built businesses that the world uses every day. Applications that we simply expect to be there – when we want them.. Ready to use… And there are enterprise customers who are using SoftLayer to transform their business, manage costs, drive innovation and stay ahead of the competition. You can look at the rest of these. What do they have in common?Internet ScaleInnovationA reliance on the underlying platform. That says a lot about the technology that SoftLayer delivers!Referenced Clients from CMO @ SoftLayer and approved for high-level reference:SaaS:, BaseCase, HotelsCombinedSocial: Path, SlideshareMobile: Bump, Fitbit, MagmaMobileMarketing/Digital Media: Struq, Simpli.fiGames: KIXEYE, Peak Games, 6waves, GarenaHosting/Service Providers: ZipServers, MidPhase, Distil Networks, MailChimpEnterprise (if needed): Repsol, LAN Airlines
We’ve talked about the high-level differentiators of our cloud computing environment, but let’s drill down into the compute resources available to SoftLayer customers. Public cloud instances are virtual server instances that live in a multitenant environment. While many of SoftLayer’s competitors use oversubscribed, commodity hardware to run their public cloud environments SoftLayer’s public cloud instances are delivered on the same enterprise-class bare metal as the rest of our service and we provide dedicated physical cores to ensure reliable, predictable performance. Local or remote storage is available. Public cloud instances have the same public/private/management network connectivity and are managed exactly like a bare metal server. Public cloud instances are considered great for quick scalability, but they aren’t the best fit for performance-intensive tasks … That’s where bare metal servers come in. A bare metal server is exactly what it sounds like: A physical server is racked and ready in our data center, and when a customer orders it, that customer has full control of that hardware … the bare metal. Automatically provision from a broad library of operating system and application templates, or install your own OS and application stack. SoftLayer offers a broad range of bare metal server options to meet each customer’s specific price and performance needs: Choice of processor(s), RAM, RAID controllers, GPUs for high performance computing, and SATA/SCSI/SATA hard drive options allow customers to customize the server’s hardware to specifically meet his or her application’s needs. Off-box storage options include a suite of SAN and NAS products, and a global Object Storage platform with CDN integration that gives you a highly scalable, cost-effective solution for storing large amounts of static data. How does this all work together? Customers often deploy public cloud instances for web servers while leveraging powerful bare metal servers for database servers, taking advantage of the strengths of each while managing both as an integrated infrastructure. To help streamline the provisioning of the most requested multi-server deployments like private clouds and big data environments, we’ve worked with our partners to build specialized solution sets. Customers who want the scalability of a cloud environment with the control and isolation of a single-tenant infrastructure choose to create their own private cloud environments on SoftLayer. We support multiple virtualization platforms including VMware, HyperV and XenServer, and we’ve worked with Citrix to create a turnkey solution for CloudPlatform allowing for complete private cloud environments to be provisioned and deployed from an easy-to-use Web interface.
While our compute and storage resources are our most visible offerings, our extensive suite of network- and security-related services are often just as indispensable for our customers. Several firewall and load balancer options are available to be provisioned and configured quickly by our automated platform, and our CDN allows customers to distribute their content even closer to their end users around the world. We also provide application acceleration, DNS services, IDS protection and assessment, SSL certificate management, and protection against viruses and malware.
The last segment of our service portfolio that we’ll cover is Platform Management. If a customer needs additional help or expertise when it comes to their systems administration, they can enlist our managed hosting team of experts to help them configure, tweak and maintain their environment. Unlike our competitors, we don’t believe managed hosting should be an “all or nothing” decision, so our customers can pick and choose which pieces of their infrastructure they want help with, and they aren’t committed to any long-term contracts. To further empower our customers, we offer advanced monitoring packages and a complete library of OS, database, virtualization and administration software deployable on-demand and by subscription. Because public cloud instances and bare metal servers appear identical in our system, we believed they should be identical to our customers as well. In the past, a customer had an “either, or” decision when it came to choosing a virtual or bare metal base for a given server, so we developed a technology called Flex Images to allow users the ability to take a snapshot of a cloud server and deploy it on bare metal (or vice versa). The final tool you see here is one that we added to our platform specifically for developers. Message Queue is a message and notification service for intra-application and inter-system communications. When an application has several pieces sending data between each other, those exchanges can often be inefficient. Message Queue makes it easy for developers to orchestrate those exchanges better.