Microsoft and Google are set to hang up their gloves as they call quits to a six-year legal truce. The software and internet search giants reached the pact in 2015 to end a running battle that had been fought out in courtrooms and in front of regulators around the world.

The rate of cloud adoption has increased rapidly, with more and more computing being pushed into the cloud, a trend identified in Serviceteam IT’s Cloud Snapshot Survey 2017. This growth in cloud computing has led to the development of networks of large data centres. However, this is already starting to slow, with an ever-increasing amount of computing moving back to the ‘edge’ of local networks. Processing will always occur wherever it is best placed for a given application at a given time and cloud has given us flexibility of computing resources; but we can’t help but think that reliable, elastic and on-demand networking is imperative to deliver the future.

Cloud may be the heart of many companies’ infrastructure but it would be nothing without the veins of connectivity that keep the data flowing. The UK Cloud Snapshot Survey 2017 asked what cloud connection companies use to access their cloud solutions. This was split out from their normal office connectivity unless they relied on an open public cloud connection.

Cloud Platforms & Applications: Most UK companies are working with a hybrid cloud approach and with multiple vendors, in combination with in house data centres for their cloud platform. Adoption of cloud is now varied and widespread, as the research from the UK Cloud Snapshot Survey 2017 demonstrates. The survey asked what platforms were being used for delivery of cloud based solutions.

Provisioning connections between data centres and external services has always been a problem. Which is why only 28.3% of organisations use a Cloud Connect model to services such as Azure and AWS. Now you can consolidate multiple cloud vendors into a single user interface, quickly and simply deploy multi-cloud environments. Interconnect as your cloud business model: no lock-in contracts, pay-as-you-go, and you only pay for what you need.

Microsoft Azure is a cloud service from the global software giant, Microsoft. Azure offers a vast range of useful compute and application resources. These are all offered on-demand and in a cost-effective manner which helps businesses scale and grow. Hopefully, like me, you can learn from this glossary even complicated sounding terminology usually has a simple explanation. Which can be useful when developing your knowledge on technical topics.

Cloud Connect uses the latest in fibre hardware technology to create a physical link between your network, and the cloud. While most data will travel across the public Internet, Cloud Connect is a dedicated connection between your network and your cloud services. Learn what it is, how it works, why you need it.

Security is paramount for any business, especially given the rise in cyber attacks, data thefts and major network breaches. I won’t list the major names, as that’s been done, but you can read the Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2016. Much of that research was aimed at larger organisations, even though it’s far easier for enterprise-level companies to secure their resources. But what about the rest of us, Startups, Micro-Businesses and Small to Medium sized organisations?

If you purchase new, or renew existing Office 365 licences, you can avoid Office 365 price increases. We will offer at least a 5% reduction on the current 2017 prices for 12 months. This offer includes Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, Skype for Business and the entire suite of Office 365. Office 365 price increases 22% I’m sorry […]

Part One | Part Two In Part One we learnt: Install and update Windows Server with Active Directory Federation Services version 2.0 (AD FS 2.0) with update Rollup 2, KB2681584. Set-up AD FS for Office 365 for Single Sign-On. To continue . . . Add five claim rules to the Active Directory Claims Provider trust. Use the following procedure to […]