Cloud News: VMware, Microsoft, IceWEB, Riverbed

Here’s a roundup of some of this week’s headlines from the cloud computing sector:

VMware to acquire DynamicOps. VMware (VMW) announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire DynamicOps, Inc., a provider of cloud automation solutions that enable provisioning and management of IT services across heterogeneous environments – VMware-based private and public clouds, physical infrastructures, multiple hypervisors and Amazon Web Services. DynamicOps builds on the capabilities of vCloud Director by enabling customers to consume multi-cloud resources such as Amazon EC2, Hyper-V and Xen-based hypervisors. "As IT organizations evolve from builders to brokers of services many seek to provide access to diverse cloud resources in a controlled, managed fashion,” said Ramin Sayar, vice president and general manager, Virtualization and Cloud Management, VMware.  “DynamicOps’ multi-cloud and multi-platform capabilities help to strengthen VMware’s position as the infrastructure and management vendor of choice for cloud computing." Terms of the deal were not disclosed and it is expected to close in the third quarter of this year.

Windows Azure selected by Samsung.  Microsoft announced that Samsung Electronics selected Windows Azure to manage its Smart TV infrastructure. Samsung selected Azure for its ability to support ongoing, reliable service and its continual increase in traffic. “After extensive testing, Windows Azure is the only cloud offering that met our exacting conditions,” said an official at Samsung Electronics’ Visual Display Business Division. Windows Azure gives Samsung the ability to help secure the server and storage resources it needs quickly, giving Samsung the time to focus on providing high-quality software and services to its customers. Microsoft also recently acquired enterprise social network provider Yammer for $1.2 billion in cash.

IceWEB enters Rackspace Partner Program.  IceWEB announced it has entered into the Partner Program for Rackspace Hosting. This relationship is designed to add mutual value for IceWEB and Rackspace and to increase targeted exposure and reputation for both companies. IceWEB expands its cloud storage capability with the launch of IceCLOUD,  providing a complete end-to-end storage and disaster recovery solution for mid-enterprise organizations.  Customers can now implement IceWEB’s unified storage appliances and replicate their mission critical data offsite to IceWEB’s IceCLOUD using IceWEB’s IceSTORM Operating System for disaster recovery and continuity of operations. The turnkey solution brings added simplicity, ease-of-use, convenience, and total storage integration to resource-strapped mid-market organizations and enterprise data centers alike. “As part of IceWEB’s growth strategy, expansion into cloud storage is a natural fit that’s highly complementary to our award-winning unified storage appliances and award-winning replication capabilities,” said Steven Toole, IceWEB’s Chief Marketing Officer.

Riverbed selected by Lighthouse eDiscovery.  Riverbed Technology (RVBD) announced that Lighthouse eDiscovery, a leading provider of electronic discovery services, replaced its tape-based backup system with the Riverbed Whitewater cloud storage gateway to improve its backup and disaster recovery processes.  The Whitewater gateway enabled Lighthouse to securely accelerate backup and recovery operations to the public cloud for improved data protection. "While cloud storage was an attractive option for us due to its immediate availability, Riverbed was a critical component of making DR in the cloud a reality. We were able to configure the Whitewater gateway in about an hour without having to replace our existing backup tool, Symantec Backup Exec," said Marc Larkin, System Administrator at Lighthouse. "Our data protection strategy is much more reliable than with tape and our backups feel local!"